/J 


1040  ROBINSON  (Henry  Crabb)  Correspondence  with 
the  Wordsworth  Circle  (1808-1866)  edited  by  Edith 
J.  Morley,  2  vols.,  1927;  Crabb  Robinson  in  Germany 
1800-05,  1929,  together  3  vols.,  1927-9,  ilhtsts.,  8vo, 
out  of  print 


56  ROBINSON,  Henry  Crabb.  Diary,  Reminiscences,  &  Corre- 
spondence. Ed.  by  Thos.  Sadler.  Port.  3  vols.,  8vo,  i  blue  mor.,  g.t. 
Lond.  (Macmillan),  1869.  $17.50 

Personal  recollections  of  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Hazlitt,  Lamb,  and  other  greats  of 
their  day. 


Robinson  (Henry  Crabb) — Crabb  Robinson  in  Germany,  1 800-1 805.  Extracts 
from  his  Correspondence.  Readers  of  his  correspondence  will  welcome  this  oppor- 
tunity of  meeting  Crabb  Robinson  in  his  travels.  He  travelled  on  foot  over  most 
of  Germany  and  gives  accounts  of  the  revolutionary  intellectual  and  spiritual 
changes  in  German  thought.  His  insight  picked  out  the  outstanding  genius  of 
Goethe  and  Kant.    Index  and  map.   8vo,  cloth,  pp.  viii,  194  (pub.  1929,  los  6d) 

for  3s  6d 

fe54  ROBINSON.  Morley  (Edith  J.).  Life  and  Timest 
f  of  Henry  Crabb  Robinson.  6  plates,  8vo,  name  on  title,  \ 
\  cover  slightly  marked.     (1935)  10s  6d ' 

BAKER,  J.  M.  Henry  Crabb  Robinson  of  Bury,  Jena, 
The  Times,  and  Russell  Square.  Illus.  256pp.  Lon., 
(1937).  $2.00 

'  ^^H.n^'' p'^'kk  J^.--  C.).^Marquardt   (H.)  I 
?reu  nd?^  ^  ^t^^'^^        ^^^^^  deurschen  ' 

Vtl'  P'"''''^^  zwischen  England  und 
Nach'^RH^?  ™  Zeitalter  der  Romantik 
Nach  Brief  en,  Tagebiichern  u.  anderen 
Aufzeichnungen  unter  Mithilfe  v  K 
F./r^/^-  (P^l^^^t^a).  Mil  Abbild.  u\ 
Faksimiles.    Gdttingen,  1964.  Wrappers 

2^'  J;    -^'^  ^""^  Fruhjahr  1811. 
-Dd.  II.   Expected  shortly. 

ROBINSON,  HENRY  CRABB 

Diary,  Reminiscences,  and  Corresponden 
Henry  Crabb  Robinson  \ 

Edited  by  Thomas  Sadler 
With  Corrections  and  Additions 
With  Recollections  of  Robinson  by  Augi^ 
The  Best  Edition  ' 
London,  1872 
2  Volume  Set 


Edinburgh,  is; 


DIARY,  REMINISCENCES. 

AND 

CORRESPONDENCE 

OF 

HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON, 

BARRISTER-AT-LAW,  F.  S.  A. 

SELECTED  AND  EDITED  BY 

THOMAS  SADLER,  Ph.D. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES, 
VOL.  I. 


BOSTON: 
FIELDS,  OSGOOD,  &  CO., 

SUCCESSORS  TO  TICKNOR  AND  FIELDS. 
1869. 


"  A  Man  he  seems  of  cheerful  yesterdays 
And  confident  to-morrows  ;  with  a  face 
Not  worldly-minded,  for  it  bears  too  much 
Of  Nature's  impress,  —  gayety  and  health, 
Freedom  and  hope ;  but  keen  withal,  and  shrewd. 
His  gestures  note,  —  and  hark  !  his  tones  of  voice 
Are  all  vivacious  as  his  mien  and  looks." 

The  Excursion^  Book  VII. 


From  Advance  Sheets, 


University  Press  :  Welch,  Bigblow,  &  Co., 
Cambridge. 


PREFACE. 


THE  materials  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Editor, 
from  which  to  make  selections  for  the  following 
work,  were  :  1.  Brief  journals  reaching  as  far  as  1810, 
inclusive  ;  2.  A  regular  and  full  home  Diary,  begun  in 
1811,  and  continued  till  within  five  days  of  Mr.  Eobin- 
son's  death,  forming  thirty-five  closely  written  volumes  ; 
3.  About  thirty  volumes  of  Journals  of  tours  ;  4.  Eem- 
iniscences,  reaching  down  to  the  year  1843,  inclusive; 
5.  Miscellaneous  papers  ;  6.  A  large  number  of  letters. 
It  was  Mr.  Eobinson's  intention  to  very  materially  re- 
duce the  number  of  letters,  and  to  leave  only  those  which 
were  valuable.  This  sifting  he  regarded  as  a  chief  work 
of  his  later  years,  and  he  was  fond  of  quoting  respecting 
it  the  saying  of  Dr.  Aikin  when  struck  by  paralysis: 
"  I  must  make  the  most  of  the  salvage  of  life."  But  al- 
though he  destroyed  a  vast  number  of  letters,  the  work 
of  selection  and  arrangement  was  very  far  from  com- 
pleted. 

The  part  of  his  papers  of  which  he  himself  contem- 
plated the  posthumous  publication,  was  a  selection  from 
his  Eeminiscences,  with  some  letters.  Many  friends  re- 
peatedly urged  him  to  make  the  necessary  preparation  for 
such  a  publication.  Among  these  were  Eogers  and 
Wordsworth.  On  the  recommendation  of  the  latter,  Mr. 
Eobinson  laid  special  stress,  for  he  said :  "  Wordsworth 
must  be  aware  that  there  are  many  interesting  particulars 
respecting  himself,  which  I  should  wish  to  preserve,  if  I 
preserved  anything."  And  the  recommendation  was, 
therefore,  interpreted  as  a  sanction  to  including  these 
particulars  with  those  relating  to  Goethe,  Wieland,  and 


vi 


PREFACE. 


others.  To  his  executors,  Mr.  Eobinson  used  to  say :  "  If 
you  were  to  print  all  that  you  find"  (referring  to  the 
Eeminiscences),  "  I  should  think  you  would  show  great 
want  of  judgment ;  and  I  should  think  the  same  if  you 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  nothing  worth  print- 
ing." About  six  weeks  before  his  death,  he  met  Mr.  Mac- 
millan,  the  publisher  of  these  volumes,  who,  as  they  were 
going  down  to  lunch,  gave  him  his  arm,  and  on  the  stairs 
said :  "  Mr.  Eobinson,  I  wonder  that  you  have  never  been 
induced  to  undertake  some  great  literary  work."  Mr. 
Eobinson  stopped,  and,  placing  his  hand  on  Mr.  Macmil- 
lan's  shoulder,  answered :  "  It  is  because  I  am  a  wise  man. 
I  early  found  that  I  had  not  the  literary  ability  to  give 
me  such  a  place  among  English  authors  as  I  should  have 
desired;  but  I  thought  that  I  had  an  opportunity  of 
gaining  a  knowledge  of  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  the  age,  and  that  I  might  do  some  good  by  keep- 
ing a  record  of  my  interviews  with  them."  And  writing 
to  his  brother  in  1842,  he  said  :  ''When  you  complain  of 
my  not  being  so  copious  as  I  ought  on  such  occasions, 
you  only  remind  me  of  what  I  am  already  sufficiently 
aware,  and  that  I  want  in  an  eminent  degree  the  Boswell 
faculty.  With  his  excellent  memory  and  tact,  had  I  ear- 
ly in  life  set  about  following  his  example,  I  might,  beyond 
all  doubt,  have  supplied  a  few  volumes  superior  in  value 
to  his  'Johnson,'  though  they  would  not  have  been  so 
popular.  Certainly  the  names  recorded  in  his  great  work 
are  not  so  important  as  Goethe,  Schiller,  Herder,  Wie- 
land,  the  Duchesses  Amelia  and  Louisa  of  Weimar,  and 
Tieck,  —  as  Madame  de  Stael,  La  Fayette,  Abbe  Gregoire, 
Benjamin  Constant,  —  as  Wordsworth,  Southey,  Coleridge, 
Lamb,  Eogers,  Hazlitt,  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Clarkson,  &c.,  &c., 
&c.,  for  I  could  add  a  great  number  of  minor  stars.  And 
yet  what  has  come  of  all  this  ?  Nothing.  What  will 
come  of  it  ?    Perhaps  nothing." 

From  the  year  1811  the  Diary  is  entitled  to  the  most 
prominent .  place.  The  Eeminiscences  were  not  begun 
till  Mr.  Eobinson  had  nearly  reached  threescore  years 
and  ten  ;  and  even  if  they  had  been  written  in  the  fresh- 
ness of  his  memory,  and  in  the  fulness  of  his  mental 


PREFACE. 


vii 


vigor,  they  would  still  hardly  have  had  equal  value  with 
the  daily  record,  which  breathes  the  air  of  the  scenes 
and  incidents  to  which  it  relates. 

In  the  execution  of  his  task,  the  Editor  has  kept  two 
objects  especially  in  view  :  first,  to  preserve  interesting 
particulars  respecting  distinguished  men,  both  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent;  and,  secondly,  to  keep  unbroken 
the  thread  of  Mr.  Eobinson's  own  life.  One  reason  why 
the  materials  were  put  into  his  hands  rather  than  those  of 
one  possessing  more  literary  experience  was,  that  he  had 
been  himself  a  student  at  German  Universities,  and  was 
interested  in  German  literature  ;  but  the  chief  reason  was 
that,  from  various  circumstances,  he  was  likely  to  give 
due  prominence  to  Mr.  Eobinson's  own  modes  of  thinking 
and  mental  characteristics,  his  independent  unconforming 
ways,  without  which  those  who  knew  him  best  would 
feel  that  they  had  not  a  faithful  portrait  of  their  friend. 
If  this  were  not  secured,  the  executors  would  consider 
that  they  were  not  carrying  out  his  own  aim,  in  leaving 
the  selection  of  editor  to  them,  without  guidance  or  re- 
straint. The  Editor  has,  therefore,  felt  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  take  all  the  care  he  could  that  the  unpopular,  or  com- 
monly uninteresting,  subjects  of  Mr.  Eobinson's  thought 
and  interest  should  not  be  suppressed,,  in  order  to  make 
the  book  more  in  accordance  with  the  public  taste. 

The  Editor  cannot  venture  to  hope  that,  in  the  first  edi- 
tion of  the  work,  there  will  not  be  many  mistakes.  Mr. 
Eobinson  often  excited  surprise  by  his  wonderful  mem- 
ory in  the  narration  of  personal  incidents  ;  but  in  re- 
gard to  dates  and  names,  it  was  not  altogether  without 
grounds  that  he  called  himself  an  incorrigible  blunderer. 

Of  the  mass  of  MS.  which  remains  after  selection,  it  will 
be  enough  to  say,  that  it,  for  the  most  part,  refers  simply 
to  the  ordinary  matters  of  private  life,  but  that  there  are 
some  parts  which,  though  they  could  not,  with  propriety, 
be  published  now,  may  in  time  have  a  public  interest  and 
value.*    It  may,  perhaps,  not  be  out  of  place  to  give  very 

*  Mr.  Robinson's  papers  will  be  carefully  preserved  with  a  view  to  any  liistor- 
ical  value  they  may  acquire  by  the  lapse  of  time.  It  may  be  stated  as  a 
rough  guess,  that  the  selections,  not  taking  into  account  the  letters,  do  not 
amount  to  more  than  a  twenty-fifth  or  thirtieth  part  of  the  whole. 


viii 


PREFACE. 


briefly  some  of  the  most  marked  impressions  of  Mr. 
Eobinson,  which,  have  been  left  on  the  Editor's  mind, 
after  reading  the  whole. 

In  Holcroft's  "  Hugh  Trevor "  there  is  a  passage  in 
which  Mr.  Eobinson  was  greatly  interested,  because  he 
felt  it  to  be  singularly  applicable  to  himself :  "  I  was  pos- 
sessed of  that  hilarity  which,  when  not  regulated  by  a 
strong  desire  to  obtain  some  particular  purpose,  shows 
itself  in  a  thousand  extravagant  forms,  and  is  then  called 
animal  spirits  ;  but  when  once  turned  to  an  attainment 
of  some  great  end,  assumes  the  more  worthy  appellation 
of  activity  of  mind."  Of  this  passage  Mr.  Eobinson  says  : 
I  have  through  life  had  animal  spirits  in  a  high  degree. 
I  might,  under  certain  circumstances,  have  had  more." 
When  he  was  in  his  seventieth  year,  Mrs.  Clarkson  said 
of  him,  that  he  was  "  as  much  a  boy  as  ever."  Words- 
worth called  him  "  a  healthy  creature,  who  talked  of  com- 
ing again  in  seven  years  as  others  would  of  seven  days." 
And  the  first  line  of  the  Dedication  to  H.  C.  E.  of  the 
"  Memorials  of  the  Italian  Tour  "  is  :  — 

"  Companion !    By  whose  buoyant  spirit  cheered." 

This  was,  doubtless,  in  some  measure  omng  to  a  health- 
ful and  vigorous  constitution.  Very  rarely  does  so  long 
a  life  pass  with  so  little  interruption  from  illness.  Even 
so  late  as  1831,  when  he  was  in  Italy,  he  made  an  excur- 
sion with  three  gentlemen,  one  of  whom,  before  their 
return,  volunteered  this  confession  :  When  I  heard  that 
you  were  to  be  of  the  party,  I,  at  first,  refused  to  go  ; '  Eor,' 
I  said,  '  Mr.  Eobinson  is  an  old  man,  and  the  rest  of  us 
shall  have  to  accommodate  ourselves  to  his  infirmities  '  ; 
but  you  have  already  knocked  up  two  of  us,  and  all  but 
me  also." 

Mr.  Eobinson  was  a  voracious  devourer  of  books.  He 
read  before  he  got  up,  and  after  he  went  to  bed.  On  his 
journeys,  whether  on  foot  or  on  a  stage-coach,  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  spending  much  of  his  time  in  reading.  The 
most  attractive  scenery  had  to  share  his  attention  with  a 
book.  He  said  :  "  I  could  have  no  pleasure  at  the  seaside 
without  society.  That  is  the  one  great  want  of  my  life, 
or  rather  the  second,  —  the  first  being  books."    In  a 


PREFACE. 


ix 


Christmas  visit  to  Eydal,  for  a  month  or  five  weeks,  he 
would  read  from  ten  to  twenty  volumes  of  such  works  as 
those  of  Arnold,  Whately,  and  Isaac  Taylor.  Nor  was  he 
one  of  those  who  think  they  have  read  a  work  when  they 
have  only  skimmed  through  it,  and  made  themselves  ac- 
quainted with  its  general  contents.  Sometimes  he  gives, 
in  the  Diary,  an  account  of  what  he  read,  a^nd  there  is  a 
large  bundle  of  separate  papers,  containing  abstracts  of 
books,  plots  of  stories,  and  critical  remarks. 

In  his  case,  however,  there  was  no  danger  of  becoming 
so  absorbed  in  literature  as  to  lose  his  interest  in  men. 
He  was  eminently  social.  But  he  liked  to  have  to  do 
with  persons  who  had  some  individuality.  It  was  an  af- 
fliction to  him  to  be  obliged  to  spend  several  hours  with 
one  of  those  colorless  beings  who  have  no  opinions, 
tastes,  or  principles  of  their  own.  Writing  from  Ger- 
many to  his  brother,  he  said,  "  I  love  characters  extreme- 
ly." The  words,  "  He  is  a  character,"  are  frequently  the 
prelude  to  an  interesting  personal  description.  Of  one 
whom  he  knew,  he  says  :  "  AH  his  conversation  is  ostenta- 
tious egotism  ;  and  yet  it  is  preferable  to  the  dry  talk 
about  the  weather,  which  some  men  torment  me  with. 
The  revelations  of  character  are  always  interesting." 
This  interest  in  character  seems  to  have  given  him  an  in- 
tuitive power  of  finding  out  noticeable  men.  Wherever 
he  was,  —  in  London,  Germany,  or  Rome,  —  a  secret  affin- 
ity was  almost  sure  to  bring  him  into  contact  with  those 
who  were  most  worth  knowing,  and  to  lead  to  a  lasting 
acquaintance  with  them.  When  compelled,  by  Napo- 
leon's soldiers,  to  fly  from  Hamburg,  and  to  take  refuge  in 
Stockholm,  he  formed  a  friendship  with  the  veteran 
Arndt,  and  there  was  no  diminution  in  the  warmth  of 
their  greeting  after  an  interval  of  twenty-seven  years. 

Mr.  Eobinson's  name  is  vddely  known  as  that  of  a  cap- 
ital talker.  There  is  a  saying  that  a  man's  strength  is 
also  his  weakness,  and  in  this  case  there  are  not  wanting 
jokes  about  his  taking  all  the  conversation  to  himself.  It 
is  reported  that  one  day  at  a  breakfast-party  at  Sam 
Eogers's,  the  host  said  to  those  assembled  :  "  0,  if  there 
is  any  one  here  who  wishes  to  say  anything,  he  had  bet- 


X 


PREFACE. 


ter  say  it  at  once,  for  Crabb  Eobinson  is  coming."  But 
there  is  no  subject  on  which  he  more  frequently  re- 
proaches himself,  than  with  this  habit  of  taking  too  large 
•  a  share  of  the  talk.  '  When  his  strength  was  beginning  to 
fail,  his  friend  Edwin  Field  urged  him  in  a  letjCer  to  re- 
frain from  talking  "  more  than  two  hours  consecutively." 
He  notes  this  in  the  Diary,  and  adds  :  "  Is  this  satire  ?  It 
does  not  offend  me."  Yet  he  was  too  candid  not  to  ac- 
knowledge that  conversation  was  the  one  thing  in  which, 
in  his  own  estimation,  he  excelled.  It  was,  he  said,  his 
power  of  expression  which  enabled  him  to  make  his  way 
as  a  barrister,  notwithstanding  his  deficiencies  in  legal  at- 
tainment.* He  not  only  had  a  copious  vocabulary,  but 
could  also  convey  much  meaning  by  his  manner,  and  by 
a  playful  exaggeration  in  his  words. 

Of  this  last  use  of  speech  he.  says  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother :  "  AVhat  I  wrote  about  the  parson's  alleging 
that  he  had  never  seen  me  church,  was  not  altogether 
a  joke,  but  was  a  real  feeling,  exaggerated  into  a  joke, 
which  is  very  much  my  habit  in  company,  and,  I  may 
say,  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  conversational  tact.  There 
is  not  a  better  way  of  insinuating  a  wholesome  but  un- 
palatable truth,  than  clothing  it  in  language  wilfully  be- 
yond truth,  so  that  it  may  be  taken  as  a  satire  on  those 
who  gravely  maintain  the  same  doctrine,  by  all  who  per- 
haps would  not  tolerate  a  sober  and  dry  statement  of  it. 
I  have  the  vanity  to  think  I  know  how  to  do  this,  but  I 
may  sometimes  fail,  of  course.  The  intelligent  always 
understand  me,  and  the  dull  are  puzzled."  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  to  the  great  majority  of  those  who 
were' in  the  habit  of  meeting  him  his  conversation  was  a 
real  delight.  The  Editor  well  remembers  the  secret  pleas- 
ure with  which  he  invariably  saw  him  come^  into  the 
room,  and  the  feeling  which  the  announcement  of  his 
death  caused,  as  of  a  loss  which,  in  kind,  could  never  be 
made  up.  There  were  veins  in  his  conversation,  from  which 
more  good  was  to  be  gained  in  a  pleasant  hour  after  din- 
ner, than  from  many  a  lengthened  serious  discourse. 

*  Whatever  amount  of  truth  there  may  be  in  Mr.  Robinson's  own  idea  of 
his  legal  attainments,  he,  at  all  events,  as'the  Diary  shows,  was  a  great  reader 
of  legal  books,  while  he  was  in  practice  at  the  bar. 


PREFACE. 


xi 


Throughout  life  Mr.  Eobinson  was  a  man  of  unusual 
activity.  He  himself  would  hardly  have  admitted  this. 
A  title  that  suggested  itself  to  him  for  his  Reminiscences 
was,  "  Retrospect  of  an  Idle  Life."  When  on  one  occa- 
sion he  was  told  by  his  medical  attendant  that  he  had 
been  using  his  brain  too  much,  he  exclaimed,  "  That  is 
absurd."  He  would  say  of  himself,  that  while  he  talked 
too  much  he  did  nothing.  But,  in  truth,  men  ''who  have 
nothing  to  do  "  are  very  serviceable  members  of  society, 
if  they  only  know  how  to  employ  their  time. 

Those  who  knew  him  best,  protested  against  the  self- 
reproaches  he  heaped  upon  himself  for  not  being  of  more 
use.  Miss  Denman  says  in  a  letter :  "  I  must  scold 
you  in  good  earnest.  What  can  you  mean  by  comj)lain- 
ing  of  being  useless  in  the  world,  when  you  must  be  con- 
scious that  every  human  being  you  ever  called  friend  has 
found  you  one  in  any  and  every  emergency  where  your 
kindness  and  services  could  be  made  available  ?  Do  we 
not  all  feel  and  acknowledge  this,  and  are  you  the  only 
forgetful  person  ?  I  '11  tell  you  what  you  should  do. 
When  the  uncomfortable  discouraging  idea  is  taking  hold 
of  your  mind,  call  over  the  names  of  the  persons  you 
have  been  most  intimate  with,  and  ask  yourself  before 
you  dismiss  each  name,  Have  I  never  done  a  service, 
given  useful  advice  or  pecuniary  aid,  to  this  person  ? 
Try  this,  and  I  think  your  mind  will  be  relieved  from  the 
fancied  evil."  He  was,  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  a 
busy  idle  man." 

In  the  early  part  of  his  life,  simple  habits  and  a  very 
limited  expenditure  were  necessary  to  "  make  both  ends 
meefc."  But  when  his  means  became  considerable  he  had 
no  desire  to  alter,  materially,  his  mode  of  living.  He  did 
not  covet  the  kind  of  rank  and  station  which  are  attained 
by  a  costly  establishment  and  a  luxurious  table.  He  had 
not  a  single  expensive  habit ;  but  he  said,  My  parsi- 
mony does  not  extend  to  others."  He  would  rather  help 
some  widow  to  bring  up  her  children,  or  some  promising 
young  man  to  obtain  superior  educational  advantages. 
But  he  had  his  own  method  of  giving.  It  was  rather  in 
the  spirit  of  generosity ^  than  of  charity,  in  the  narrower 


xii 


PREFACE. 


sense  of  that  word.  He  had  his  pensioners  among  the 
poor,  but  he  had  a  wholesome  fear  of  encouraging  a  spirit 
of  dependence,  and  was  conscientiously  on  his  guard 
against  that  kind  of  liberality  which  is  easily  taken  in. 
There  were  friends  to  whom  he  used  to  say,  "  If  you  know 
of  any  case  in  which  money  will  do  good,  come  to  me  ! "  * 
And  he  did  not  like  to  be  much  thanked ;  he  felt  humili- 
ated by  it,  when  he  had  simply  followed  the  natural  die- . 
tates  of  kindness  and  good- will.  He  was  especially  fond 
of  promoting  the  enjoyment  of  the  young.  "  In  the  hap- 
piness of  the  young,"  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  his  brother, 
"  we,  the  aged,  if  we  are  not  grossly  selfish,  shall  be  able 
to  take  pleasure."  If  it  were  rumored  that  the  students 
of  University  Hall  wanted  the  relief  of  a  dance,  towards 
the  close  of  a  session  of  hard  study,  they  would  presently 
hear  that  an  anonymous  friend  had  presented  £  50  for  the 
purpose.  He  took  gresit  pains  with  his  gifts.  He  would 
often  get  some  friend  to  choose  a  wedding  present,  and  the 
value  was  "  not  to  be  less  than  a  sum  named,"  —  always  a 
handsome  amount.  With  a  book-gift,  he  would  some- 
times send  a  long  and  valuable  letter  about  the  best  way 
to  read  it.  In  Rome,  on  the  birthday  of  l^epina.  Miss 
Mackenzie's  adopted  child,  he  put  into  her  hands  a  pres- 
ent of  money,  with  a  kind  letter  of  advice,  which  he 
hoped  would  be  valuable  to  her  in  after  life.  There  was 
often  peculiar  delicacy  in  his  acts  of  generosity.  In  one 
of  his  tours,  he  found  his  old  friend  Charlotte  Serviere 
somewhat  narrowed  in  her  circumstances,  and,  calling  at 
Frankfort  on  his  way  back,  he  begged  her  to  do  him  the 
favor  of  relieving  him  of  a  part  of  the  too  large  balance 
which  his  tour  had  left  in  his  hands,  and  to  excuse  a 
pecuniary  gift  from  an  old  friend.  He  would  not  let  her 
express  the  gratitude  she  felt ;  but  on  leaving  the  house, 
on  a  subsequent  visit,  he  could  not  prevent  the  old  ser- 
vant from  seizing  him  by  the  hand  and  saying,  "  I  thank 
you  for  the  great  joy  you  have  given  to  the  Fraulein."  Some 
who  are  now  thriving  in  fortune,  and  holding  a  prominent 
place  in  the  literary  world,  will  remember  the  little  "  sealed 

*  Mr.  Robinson  often  said  to  E.  W.  Field :  "  You  cannot  think  what  a  trou- 
ble it  is  to  me  to  spend  a  shilling  on  myself;  but  if  you  know  of  any  good 
way  of  using  my  money,  come  to  me." 


PREFACE. 


xiii 


notes/'  containing  a  valuable  enclosure,  for  which  he 
would  fain  have  it  believed  that  a  volume  or  two  of  the 
author's  works,  or  a  ticket  to  a  course  of  lectures,  was  am- 
ple return.  Nor  was  his  generosity  by  any  means  con- 
fined to  pecuniary  gifts  and  personal  exertions. 

Not  a  few  of  his  best  anecdotes  have  got,  prematurely, 
into  print.  This  was  inevitable  with  a  good  talker.  And 
he  would  not  have  avoided  jt,  if  he  could,  by  putting  a 
restraint  on  the  sociability  of  his  nature,  though  he  did 
like  to  have  his  anecdotes  told  as  they  ought  to  be.  Not 
only,  however,  did  some  of  his  best  anecdotes  get  abroad,  if 
sometimes  in  an  imperfect  form,  but  he  seems  to  have  had 
no  disposition  to  keep  back  other  matter,  though  strictly 
under  his  own  control.  When  he  heard  that  Moore  was 
preparing  a  "  Life  of  Byron,"  he  wrote  a  letter,  which,  it 
appears,  never  reached  its  destination,  giving  a  full  ac- 
count of  those  highly  interesting  interviews,  in  which 
Goethe's  opinions  of  Byron  were  expressed.  Mrs.  Aus- 
tin, in  her  "  Characteristics  of  Goethe,"  and  Mr.  Gilchrist, 
in  his  "  Memoirs  of  Blake,"  not  to  mention  others,  re- 
ceived valuable  contributions  from  Mr.  Eobinson ;  and 
this,  notwithstanding  that  recollections  of  his  own  would, 
in  all  probability,  be  some'^day  published. 

His  love  for  the  young  showed  itself,  not  only  in  his 
thoughtfulness  for  their  pleasure,  but  also  in  the  allow- 
ance he  made  for  their  faults.*  Jean  Paul  says,  that  in 
the  young  man  the  wing  feathers  (the  impulsive  energies) 
are  chiefly  developed,  and  that  the  tail  feathers  (the  bal- 
ancing power,  or  judgment)  are  the  growth  of  later  years. 
Accordingly,  Mr.  Eobinson,  though  himself  of  the  widest 
toleration,  thought  "  intolerance  not  inexcusable  in  a 
young  man.  Tolerance  comes  with  age."  His  own  large 
experience  of  diversity  of  opinion,  taste,  and  feeling, 
combined  with  excellence  of  character,  had  made  him 
thoroughly  catholic  in  spirit ;  and  with  his  tendency  to 
self-depreciation,  he  was  (to  borrow  Dr.  King's  expres- 
sion) "  too  modest  to  be  tolerant."    But  there  were  two 

*  Not  indeed  for  the  faults  of  the  young  only.  *'  Dr.  E.  spoke  with  spirit 
about  T.  I  defended  poor  T.  as  well'as  1  could,  with  more  love  than  logic. 
He  is  indefensible.  Amyot  cheered  me  on,  who  loves  all  his  old  friends;  he 
gives  up  none."  —  H.  C.  R.,  October  22,  1832. 


xiv 


PREFACE. 


classes  of  persons  who  formed  exceptions.  One  consisted 
of  those  who  spoke  disrespectfully  of  his  demigods  ;  the 
other  class  is  indicated  by  his  own  words  :  "  I  cannot  tol- 
erate the  toleration  of  slavery."  Of  these  two  forms  of 
intolerance,  the  first,  which  cost  him  some  friendships,  he 
acknowledged  as  a  fault,  and,  on  various  occasions,  ex- 
pressed his  deep  regret  at  it,  as  arising  from  a  want  of 
control  over  his  temper ;  the  second  he  felt  to  be  a  vir- 
tue. To  one  who  was  satirical  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
he  said :  "  Lord  John  is  fair  game,  and  the  Times,  and  the 
Whigs  too,  if  by  Whigs  you  mean  the  great  Whig  fam- 
ilies ;  but  humanity  is  too  sacred  a  subject  for  irony." 

Mr.  Eobinson  used  to  lament  that  he  had  not  the  fac- 
ulty of  giving  a  graphic  account  of  the  illustrious  men 
with  whom  he  came  into  Contact.  He  had,  at  all  events, 
one  qualification  for  interesting  others,  —  he  was  inter- 
ested himself  The  masters  of  style  have  no  arts  which 
can  take  the  place  of  a  writer's  own  enthusiasm  in  his 
subject.  Mr.  Eobinson's  descriptions  are  often  all  the 
more  effective  from  their  very  naturalness  and  simplicity. 
The  Italian  tour,  with  Wordsworth,  may  be  cited  as  an 
example.  What  was  written  on  the  journeys  is,  on  the 
whole,  hardly  equal  to  the  ordinary  home  Diary.  Nor  is 
that  tour  one  of  the  best,  so  far  as  the  record  is  concerned. 
And  yet  the  few  notes  jotted  down  day  by  day  are  ad- 
mirably illustrative  of  Wordsworth's  mind  and  character, 
and  are  strikingly  confirmed  by  the  "  Memorials  "  written 
by  him  afterwards.  The  poet's  love  for  natural  beauties 
rather  than  works  of  art,  for  the  country  rather  than  the 
towns,  for  fresh  life  in  bird,  or  flower,  or  little  child, 
rather  than  for  the  relics  of  the  things  of  old,  —  his  an- 
noyance at  the  long  streets  of  Bologna,  —  his  eagerness 
to  depart  from  the  fashionable  watering-place  of  Ischl,  — 
the  wide  difference  in  his  interest  in  those  places  which 
have  influenced  the  character  and  works  of  a  great  man, 
and  those  which  have  only  been  outwardly  associated 
with  him,  —  his  being  allured  by  the  sound  of  a  stream, 
and  led  on  and  on  till  midday,  notwithstanding  that  he 
was  expected  back  to  breakfast,  and  the  relief  his  anxious 
friend  felt  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  same  sound,  knowing 


PREFACE. 


XV 


that  it  would  be  likely  to  be  irresistible  to  the  truant, 
and  tracking  him  out  by  this  clew,  —  these  and  kindred 
touches  of  character  have  in  them  the  material  and  col- 
oring of  genuine  biography. 

The  time  spent  by  Mr.  Eobinson  in  Germany,  as  a 
young  man,  was  a  turning-point  in  his  life.  And  he  did 
not  derive  the  advantage  of  between  four  and  five  years' 
study  there,  in  the  best  society,  without  leaving  a  very 
favorable  impression  on  many,  whose  esteem  and  friend- 
ship were,  in  the  highest  degree,  honorable  to  him,  as  well 
as  a  rich  possession.  He  must  have  been  a  tolerable 
German  scholar  to  have  been  able  to  personate  Professor 
Fichte  to  the  lionizing  landlord  and  the  confidential 
priest.  What  warm  greetings  he  invariably  received  at 
Jena  and  Weimar,  Frankfort  aiid  Heidelberg !  So  thor- 
oughly had  he  entered  into  the  thoughts  and  customs  of 
his  German  friends,  that  they  felt  themselves  to  be  under- 
stood by  him,  and  fully  trusted  him  to  represent  them  on 
his  return  to  his  native  country.  And  certainly  if  he 
were  a  "  missionary  of  English  poetry  in  Germany,"  he 
was  also  a  missionary  of  German  literature  in  England. 
This  is  amply  acknowledged  in  the  "  Memoirs  of  Frederick 
Perthes."  *  Besser,  the  partner  of  Perthes,  writing  from 
England  in  1814,  says  :  "  Such  men  as  Eobinson  are  of 
rare  occurrence  in  England.  A  better  medium  than  this 
remarkable  and  most  attractive  man  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble for  Germany  to  find.  I  unconsciously  place  him,  in 
my  mind,  by  the  side  of  Villers,  and  then  the  different 
influence  which  a  thorough  German  education  has  had 
on  the  Frenchman  and  on  the  Englishman  is  very  strik- 
ing." 

Mr.  Eobinson's  breakfast  and  dinner  parties  were  char- 
acteristically interesting.  He  did  not  seek  to  gather 
about  him  either  the  lions  or  the  wits  of  the  day.  There 
were  witty  men  and  eminent  men  at  his  table,  but  not  as 
such  were  they  invited.  None  were  allowed  to  come  there 
who  showed  themselves  to  be  either  intolerant  or  subser- 
vient. He  liked  to  gather  arotmd  him  cultivated  and 
earnest  representatives  of  various  phases  of  political  and 


*  Vol,  I.,  ch.  xix.,  p.  258. 


xvi 


PREFACE. 


religious  thought.  "  His  house "  (Mr.  Taylor  said  in  his 
address  at  Highgate)  "was  a  centre  of  attraction  for 
minds  from  the  most  opposite  points  in  the  wide  horizon 
of  opinion.  Softened  by  his  genial  spirit,  and  animated 
by  his  cheerful  flow  of  kindly  and  interesting  talk,  Tories 
and  Liberals,  High-Churchmen  and  Dissenters,  found 
themselves  side  by  side  at  his  hospitable  board,  without 
suspecting  that  they  were  enemies,  and  learned  there,  if 
they  had  never  learned  it  before,  how  much  deeper  and 
stronger  is  the  common  human  heart,  which  binds  us  all 
in  one,  than  those  intellectual  differences  which  are  the 
witness  of  our  weakness  and  infallibility,  and  sometimes 
the  expression  of  our  obstinacy  and  self-will."  It  was, 
indeed,  no  small  privilege  to  hear  the  passing  topics  of 
the  day,  and  the  chief  questions  of  literature,  talked  over 
by  able  men  of  such  widely  differing  points  of  view,  and 
in  a  spirit  of  mutual  respect  and  kindness.  And  the 
host,  who  was  as  free  in  the  expression  of  his  own  opin- 
ions as  he  was  ready  to  listen  to  the  opinions  of  others, 
seldom  failed  to  bring  to  bear  on  the  question  under  con- 
sideration some  recollection  from  Weimar  or  Highgate,  a 
walk  with  Wordsworth  at  Eydal,  or  an  evening  with 
Charles  Lamb. 

To  those  who  were  not  intimate  with  Mr.  Eobinson 
what  he  says  respecting  religion  may  sometimes  be  puz- 
zling. There  are  occasions  when  his  words  seem  to  imply 
that  with  him  belief  was  rather  hoped  for  than  an  actual 
possession.  He  thought  there  was  more  real  piety  in  the 
exclamation  of  the  anxious  father  in  the  Gospels,  "  Lord, 
I  believe  ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief,"  than  in  the  confident 
and  self-satisfied  assertion  of  the  longest  creed.  His 
sympathy  in  opinions  was  with  those  who  have  exercised 
the  fullest  liberty  of  thought.  He  had  traversed  far  and 
wide  the  realms  of  theological  speculation,  and  in  every 
part  he  had  found  sincere  and  devout  men.  But  he  was 
always  interested  and  touched  by  genuine  religious  feel- 
ing, wherever  he  found  it, — whether  in  the  simple  and 
fervent  faith  of  the  Moravians  at  Ebersdorf,  or  in  the 
blessings  which  the  old  Catholic  woman  at  Bischoflfsheim  * 

*  Where  Christian  Brentano  had  been  at  school. 


PREFACE. 


xvii 


poured  upon  ChriGtian  Brentano,  or  in  the  vesper  service 
at  the  wayside  inn  in  the  Tyrol,  or  in  the  family  worship 
at  Ambleside,  where  sweet  Jessie "  Harden  read  the 
prayers."  He  thoroughly  entered  into  the  sentiment  of 
the  author  of  the  "  Eeligio  Medici,"  —  "I  cannot  laugh  at, 
but  rather  pity,  the  fruitless  journeys  of  pilgrims,  or  con- 
demn the  miserable  condition  of  friars  ;  for  though  mis- 
placed in  circumstances,  there  is  something  in  it  of  devo- 
tion. I  could  never  hear  the  Ave  Mary  bell  without  an 
elevation,  or  think  it  a  sufficient  warrant,  because  they 
erred  in  one  circumstance,  for  me  to  err  in  all,  —  that  is, 
in  silence  and  contempt.  Whilst,  therefore,  they  directed 
their  devotions  to  her,  I  offered  mine  to  God,  and  recti- 
fied the  errors  of  their  prayers  by  rightly  ordering  mine 
own."  Looking  to  the  church  of  the  future,  he  hoped 
there  would  be  found  in  it  "  the  greatest  quantity  of  relig- 
ion founded  on  devotional  sentiment,  and  the  least  quan- 
tity of  church  government  compatible  with  it,  and  con- 
sistent with  order."  The  concluding  paragraph  of  his 
obituary  of  his  friend  Anthony  Eobinson,  written  in 
1827,  is  strikingly  applicable  to  himself:  "Could  Mr. 
Eobinson  be  justly  deemed  a  religious  man  ?  If  religion 
be  a  system  of  confident  conclusions  on  all  the  great 
points  of  metaphysical  speculation,  as  they  respect  the 
universe  and  its  author,  —  man  and  his  position  in  the 
one,  and  relation  to  the  other,  —  it  must  be  owned  Mr. 
Eobinson  laid  no  claim  to  the  character.  But  if  the  reli- 
gious principle  be  that  which  lays  the  foundations  of  all 
truth  deeper  than  the  external  and  visible  world  ;  if  reli- 
gious feeling  lie  in  humble  submission  to  the  unknown 
Infinite  Being,  who  produced  all  things,  and  in  a  deep 
sense  of  the  duty  of  striving  to  act  and  live  in  conform- 
ity with  the  will  of  that  Being ;  if,  further,  Christianity 
consist  in  acknowledging  the  Christian  Scriptures  as  the 
exposition  of  the  Divine  will,  and  the  guide  of  human 
conduct,  —  then,  surely,  he  may  boldly  claim  to  be  a 
member  of  that  true  Christian  Catholic  Church,  according 
to  his  own  definition  of  it,  — '  An  association  of  men  for 
the  cultivation  of  knowledge,  the  practice  of  piety,  and 
the  promotion  of  virtue.'  "  * 

*  Monthly  Repository,  1827,  p.  293. 


xviii 


PREFACE. 


Mr.  Eobinson  was  an  earnest  thinker  on  the  profound- 
est  and  most  difficult  religious  subjects.  This  was  espe- 
cially the  case  in  his  old  age.  As  we  like  to  look  up  to 
the  stars,  though  we  may  not  be  able  to  tell  their  magni- 
tude or  their  distance,  and  to  behold  the  majesty  of  the 
sea,  though  we  may  not  be  able  to  fathom  its  depths, 
so  he  seemed  to  be  attracted  to  the  great  problems  of  re- 
ligion, as  if  he  liked  to  feel  their  infinitude,  rather  than 
hoped  to  find  their  solution.  He  stated  as  his  experi- 
ence, that "  Eeligion  in  age  supplies  the  animal  spirits  of 
youth."  His  old  age  had  its  pathetic  side,  as,  indeed, 
every  old  age  must  have. 

Those  who,  in  his  later  years,  met  him  in  society,  and 
saw  how  full  of  life  he  was,  with  what  zest  and  anima- 
tion he  told  his  old  stories,  merely  requiring,  now  and 
then,  help  as  to  a  name  or  a  date,  may  easily  have  im- 
agined his  strength  greater  than  it  really  was. 

But  though  few,  perhaps,  have  ever  so  closely  watched 
the  approach  of  infirmity,  and  though  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  saying,  "  Growing  old  is  like  growing  poor,  a  sort 
of  going  down  in  the  world,"  his  frequent  expression  was, 
"  This  does  not  make  me  melancholy."  And  when,  at 
last,  "  everything  seemed  to  tire,"  there  was,  with  this 
feeling  of  mortal  weariness,  another  feeling,  which  was 
that  he  was 

"  On  the  brink  of  being  born." 

T.  S. 

Hampstead. 


The  Editor  desires  to  acknowledge  the  valuable  assist- 
ance he  has  received ;  and  would  especially  mention 
James  Gairdner,  Esq.,  of  the  Eecord  Office ;  George 
Scharf,  Esq.,  one  of  Mr.  Eobinson's  intimate  and  highly 
valued  friends  ;  and  J.  Morley,  Esq.,  author  of  "  Burke  : 
a  Historical  Study,"  &c.  Mr.  Gairdner  made  the  selec- 
-  tions  in  some  of  the  years.  The  proofs  have  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  additional  notes,  especially  in  connection  with 
art,  by  Mr.  Scharf,  and  of  excellent  suggestions  by  Mr. 
Morley.    Dr.  Wagner  has  rendered  a  like  service,  in  re- 


PREFACE.  xix 


gard  to  those  parts  which  relate  to  Germany.  The  ad- 
mirable paper  by  Mr.  De  Morgan,  at  the  end  of  the  second 
volume,  speaks  for  itself.  In  acknowledging  the  kind- 
ness of  Lady  Byron's  relatives,  in  regard  to  the  letters 
by  her,  the  Editor  cannot  but  add  the  expression  of  a 
hope,  that,  before  long,  the  public  may  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  a  fuller  acquaintance  with  the  correspondence 
of  one  capable  of  writing  such  letters. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER  I.  1789. 

Page 

Family  and  Childhood  1 

CHAPTER  11.  1790-95. 
Articled  Clerk  at  Colchester  10 

CHAPTER  III.  1795. 
Interval  at  Bury       .  •  .18 

CHAPTER  IV.  1796-1800. 
Unsettled  Life  in  London.  —  Correspondence  with  Robert  Hall  .      .  22. 

CHAPTERS  v.,  VI.,  VIL,  VIIL,  IX.  1800-5. 
In  Germany   .  .44 

CHAPTER  X.  1805-6. 
In  London.  —  Acquaintance  with  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  C.  and  M.  Lamb   1 44 

CHAPTER  XI.  1807. 
In  Holstein,  as  "  Times  Correspondent "  148 

CHAPTER  XIL  1807-9. 

In  London,  as  Foreign  Editor  of  the  Times.  —  Acquaintance  with 

Wordsworth.  —  At  Corunna,  as  "  Times  Correspondent"  .  .168 

CHAPTER  XIII.  1810. 
In  London.  —  Acquaintance  with  Coleridge  and  El axman      .      .  191 


XXll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIV.  1811. 

In  London. —  Debating  Societies. — Coleridge's  Lectures.  —  Southey. 

—  Resolution  to  study  for  the  Bar  204 

CHAPTER  XV.  1812. 

In  London.  —  Studies  for  the  Bar.  —  Lectures  by  Coleridge  and  Haz- 

ILtt     .       .       .   235 

CHAPTER  XVL  1813. 

Acquaintance  with  Talfourd.  —  Madame  de  Stael  in  London. — 

Circuit.  —  Takes  Chambers  260 

CHAPTER  XVIL  1814. 

European  Politics.  —  Practice  at  the  Bar.  —  Tour  in  France.  —  La 
Fayette.  —  French  Courts  of  Justice.  —  Madame  de  Stael.  — 
Benjamin  Constant.  —  Schlegel.  —  "  The  Excursion  "      .       ,  273 

CHAPTER  XVm.  1815. 

"The  Excursion." — Buonaparte's  Escape  fi'om  Elba.  —  Death  of 
H.  C.  R.'s  Father.  —  Tour  in  Belgium  and  Holland.  —  Visit  to 
Waterloo.  —  Progress  at  the  Bar      .      .      .      .      .       .  300 

CHAPTER  XIX.  1816. 

Flaxman. — Lamb.  —  The  Clarksons  at  Playford.  —  Wordsworth. 

—  Southey.  —  De  Quincey.  —  Coleridge  327 


CHAPTER  XX.  1817. 

On  Circuit.  —  Treason  Trials.  —  Coleridge  and  Tieck. — Journey  to 

Paris.  — Hone's  Trials  354 

CHAPTER  XXL  1818. 

Lectures  by  Hazlitt  and  Coleridge.  —  Visit  to  Germany.  —  The 

Court  at  Weimar. — Knebel.  —  On  Circuit     ....  379 


CHAPTER  XXn.  1819. 

Clarkson.  — J.  P.  Collier  and  Mr.  Walter.  —  On  Circuit.  — Benecke. 

—  New  Chambers  402 

CHAPTER  XXIII.  1820. 
On  Elton  Hamond  417 


CONTENTS. 


xxiii 


CHAPTER  XXIV.  1820. 
Flaxman.  —  Lamb.  —  Swiss  Tour  with  the  Wordsworths       .      .  428 


CHAPTER  XXV.  1821. 
Mrs.  Barbauld. — Elaxman.  —  Tour  to  Scotland    ....  456 


CHAPTER  XXVI.  1822. 

Wordsworth's  Memorial  Poems.  —  Visit  to  Paris.  —  Charles  and 

Mary  Lamb  in  Paris   .  468 

CHAPTER  XXVII.  1823. 

Southey.  —  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Moore,  Lamb,  and  Rogers.  — 
Abernethy.  —  Acquaintance  with  Irving.  —  Schlegel.  —  Elax- 
man  481 


REMINISCENCES 

OF 

HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON. 


CHAPTER  L 

FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

IT  is  one  of  the  evidences,  or  shall  I  say  consequences,  of  a 
happy  frame  of  mind,  that  I  am  capable  of  deriving  pleas- 
ure from  things,  the  absence  or  even  loss  of  which  does  not 
give  me  pain.  I  should  have  rejoiced  had  I  been  well  born, 
could  I  have  reckoned  historical  characters  among  my  ances- 
tors \  but  it  has  never  occasioned  me  any  serious  uneasiness 
that  my  family  are  of  as  insignificant  a  class  as  can  be  im- 
agined. Among  the  Robinsons  I  cannot  find  a  single  individual 
"who  appears  to  have  acquired  any  distinction,  and  among  the 
Crabbs  only  a  remote  probability  of  an  affinity  to  a  single  in- 
dividual of  the  name,  who  has  ever  been  heard  of,  —  and  that 
is  the  Poet. 

My  father  used  to  say  that  his  great-grandfather  was  a 
tanner  at  Bildeston  in  Suffolk,  and  that  his  name  was  Henry. 
My  great-grandfather  was  Thomas.  He  was  a  tanner  at  Sud- 
bury, where  he  is  said  to  have  attained  the  dignity  of  Mayor. 

Some  circumstances  concerning  the  marriage  of  my  father 
and  mother  are  worth  writing  down.  I  have  forgotten  from 
whom  I  heard  them.  My  mother,  Jemima  Crabb,  was  the 
eldest  daughter  of  a  large  family,  and  when  of  an  age  to  be 
useful  she  left  her  father's  crowded  house  to  reside  at  Bury 
with  a  family  very  intimate  with  her  own.  Mr.  Bullen,  the 
head  of  this  family,  being  a  Dissenter,  it  was  quite  a  matter 
of  course  that  Miss  Crabb  should  be  known  to  the  Robinsons. 
My  grandfather  was  reputed  wealthy,  and  was  certainly  one 
of  the  most  respectable  of  the  Dissenters.  Jemima  Crabb 
could  have  very  little  fortune,  and  my  grandfather  did  not 
consent  to  a  love-match  between  her  and  his  second  son  Henry. 

VOL.  I.  1        ,  A 


2         REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  1. 

She  therefore  returned  to  Wattisfield.  One  day  her  brother 
Zachariah  seeing  Henry  Kobmson  in  the  market-place,  said  to 
him,  "  Not  yet  married,  Master  Henry  1  I  expected  to  hear 
of  your  marriage  before  this  time."  Henry  answered,  "  No, 
Mr.  Zachary,  as  I  cannot  have  your  sister  Mimie  I  won't 
marry  at  all."  A  few  days  after  this,  a  letter  came  to  him 
from  Miss  Crabb,  in  which  she  said  she  was  sorry  for  what  she 
had  heard  from  her  brother,  —  that  it  would  be  sinful  in  him 
not  to  marry,  for  it  is  God's  ordinance,  and  he  should  not  re- 
fuse to  do  so  because  he  could  not  have  the  first  woman  he 
had  taken  a  liking  to.  It  would  be  undutiful  to  his  father 
also,  who  did  not  approve  of  his  marrying  her.  She  hoped 
to  hear  that  he  had  thought  better  of  this,  and  that  he  would 
make  a  happy  marriage  in  conformity  with  his  father's  wishes. 
This  letter  Henry  showed  to  his  brother  Thomas,  who  carried 
it  to  his  father.  The  old  gentleman  was  so  pleased  with  its 
tone  that  he  withdrew  his  objection.  Henry  immediately  went 
over  to  Wattisfield  with  the  good  news,  and  the  marriage  soon 
followed.    It  took  place  in  1766. 

There  were  born  two  children,  who  died  in  infancy ;  and 
besides  these,  Thomas,  born  January  25,  1770;  Habakkuk, 
born  June  4,  1771,  and  Henry  Crabb,  the  writer  of  these 
Eeminiscences;  born  May  13,  1775. 

When  I  was  about  twenty-one  years  of  age,  I  met  on  a 
stage-coach  a  very  gentlemanly  man,  who,  hearing  my  name, 
asked  me  whether  my  father  was  not  a  tanner,  and  whether 
my  mother's  name  was  not  Crabb.  Surprised  at  the  question 
from  a  stranger,  I  inquired  why  he  asked.  He  thus  explained 
himself :  More  than  twenty  years  ago  I  attended  the 
Gentlemen's  Club  at  the  Angel,  when  the  chairman  gave  as  a 
toast,  '  The  Handsome  Couple ' ;  I  was  from  the  country,  and 
it  was  then  related  to  me  that  that  morning  there  had  been 
married  a  couple  said  to  be  the  handsomest  pair  ever  known 
to  have  lived  at  Bury.  I  recollect  that  the  names  w^ere  Rob- 
inson and  Crabb,  and  that  he  was  a  young  tanner." 

In  general,  it  is  not  easy  to  fix  a  date  to  the  earliest  recol- 
lections. My  mother's  pocket-books  supply  a  few.  The  very 
earliest  that  I  am  aware  of  is  the  being  taken  out  one  night 
in  the  arms  of  the  nurse  to  see  an  illumination.  I  recollect 
being  frightened  at  the  report  of  a  gun,  or  some  fireworks,  and 
that  advantage  was  taken  of  my  crying  to  carry  me  home. 
Now  my  mother  writes  under  February  15,  1779,  "The 
town  (Bury  St.  Edmunds)  illuminated  in  honor  of  Admiral 


1775-89.] 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD. 


3 


Keppel."  I  was  then  three  years  and  nine  months  old,  being 
born  May  13,  1775. 

I  recollect  going  to  a  dame's  school,  to  a  Mrs.  Bard  who 
lived  in  a  very  small  house  in  the  South  Gate  Street.  I  find 
a  payment  of  five  shillings  to  Mrs.  Bard,  —  one  quarter,  for 
H.  C.  R.    This  was  in  July,  1780. 

I  have  a  very  clear  recollection  of  seeing  my  aunt  William- 
son enter  the  keeping-room  one  morning  and  lift  up  her  hands 
in  a  melancholy  way,  on  which  my  mother  exclaimed,  "  My 
father 's  dead  !  "  In  her  pocket-book  she  has  written,  February 
25,  1781  :  "  My  dear  father  died.  26th,  Sister  here  by  break- 
fast." This  same  aunt  Williamson  had  a  doleful  tone  of  voice 
which  I  used  to  make  game  of ;  I  recollect  being  reproved  for 
crying  out  on  her  coming  one  day  from  Wattisfield,  Behold, 
the  groaner  cometh." 

I  find  that  these  are  not  the  very  earliest  recollections,  for 
it  appears  that  my  grandmother  Crabb  died  June  22,  1779; 
now  I  very  well  recollect  hearing  it  discussed  with  my  mother 
whether  the  departed  would  be  known  in  the  other  world,  and 
saying,  I  shall  know  my  grandmamma  in  heaven  by  the  green 
ribbon  round  her  cap." 

Another  very  early,  but  also  faint  recollection  is  of  going 
with  my  mother  to  see  the  camp  on  Fornham  Heath,  of  being 
lost  there,  and  taken  into  a  tent  by  some  officers  and  feasted, 
and  while  there  seeing  my  mother  pass,  and  calling  out  to 
her  with  great  joy.  This  must  have  been  in  the  summer  of 
1778. 

Of  early  education  and  religious  instruction  I  recollect  next 
to  nothing.  I  was  an  unruly  boy,  and  my  mother  had  not 
strength  to  keep  me  in  order.  My  father  never  attempted  it. 
I  have  a  faint  impression  of  having  learnt  a  catechism,  in 
which  there  was  this  :  "  Dear  child,  can  you  tell  me  what  you 
are  % "  A.  "  I  am  a  child  of  wrath  like  unto  others."  I  have 
never  found  this  precisely  in  any  catechism,  —  but  I  was 
brought  up  with  Calvinistic  feelings. 

It  appears  from  my  mother's  pocket-book  that  I  went  to 
school  in  the  year  1781  to  old  Mr.  Blomfield.  He  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  present  Bishop  of  London.  My  brothers 
went  with  me  for  a  short  time.  They  went  to  a  boarding- 
school  in  1782,  and  then,  I  incline  to  think,  I  was  removed 
to  an  inferior  English  and  Writing  School  kept  by  a  Mr.  Lease. 

One  really  interesting  occurrence  I  recollect  which  I  have 
often  thought  of  as  significant.    There  used  to  be  given  to  the 


4        REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CPwABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  1. 


boy  who  was  at  the  head  of  his  class  a  box  and  ring,  and  he 
had  a  present  if  he  could  keep  it  a  certain  number  of  days. 
On  one  occasion  I  lost  it,  to  my  great  sorrow,  and  as  I  thought, 
very  unjustly ;  therefore  next  day  I  went  boldly  to  young 
Blomfield,  who  was  an  usher  under  his  father,  and  with  a  book 
in  my  hand,  and  with  a  consciousness  of  injured  innocence,  said. 

Sir,  you  turned  me  down  for  spelling  the  word  so,  but 

I  was  right  after  all.  There,  see  !  I  was  right."  Mr.  Blom- 
field smiled,  patted  me  on  the  head,  and  said  :  Well,  Henry, 
as  you  read  it  in  a  printed  book  you  are  not  to  blame,  but 
that  *s  printed  wrong."  I  was  quite  confounded,  I  believed  as 
firmly  in  the  infallibility  of  print  as  any  good  Catholic  can  in 
the  infallibility  of  his  church.  I  knew  that  naughty  boys 
would  tell  stories,  but  how  a  book  could  contain  a  falsehood 
was  quite  incomprehensible. 

I  will  here  mention  what  is  the  most  important  of  all  my 
reminiscences,  viz.  that  in  my  childhood  my  mother  was  to 
me  everything,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  ascribing  to  her 
every  good  moral  or  religious  feeling  I  had  in  my  childhood  or 
youth.  Had  she  possessed  more  knowledge  and  more  activity 
she  might  have  made  a  much  better  character  of  me.  But  she 
was  guided  by  the  instinct  of  motherly  love  and  pious  feelings. 
It  w^as,  I  dare  -say,  with  a  purpose,  that  when  I  had  one  day 
brought  home  a  pin  from  Mrs.  Ling's  (an  old  lady  with  whom 
she  used  to  drink  tea)  she  made  me  carry  it  back  with  an  apol- 
ogy, my  excuse  being  that  I  did  not  think  it  was  of  any  value  : 
she  thus  gave  me  a  respect  for  property.  This  same  Mrs.  Ling 
had  an  engraving  in  her  parlor.  She  told  me  it  was  Elisha 
raising  the  Shunammite's  son.  And  what  story  was  that,  I 
asked  her.  "  I  thought.  Master  E.,  you  had  been  better  edu- 
cated," she  replied,  very  formally.  I  was  much  affronted,  but 
set  about  reading  the  Bible  immediately. 

My  mother's  mantua-maker  was  a  Roman  Catholic.  I  was 
one  day  told  to  go  to  her,  but  was  unwilling  to  do  so  ;  I  said  I 
was  afraid  of  her,  I  was  told  she  was  a  Pope  and  would  do  me 
a  harm.  My  mother  scolded  me  as  a  silly  boy  and  forced  me 
to  go.  I  believe  she  gave  Mrs.  Girt  a  hint,  for  the  latter  bribed 
me  to  religious  tolerance  by  giving  me  shreds  of  silk  and  satin 
to  clothe  pictures  with,  which  was  a  favorite  employment. 
This  reminds  me  that  I  had  very  early  a  great  horror  of 
Popery,  my  first  notions  of  which  were  taken  from  a  ballad 
relating  how 

"  As  Mordecai  the  Jew  one  clay 
Was  skating  o'er  the  icy  way," 


1775-89.] 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD. 


5 


he  fell  in,  and  would  have  been  drowned,  but  a  Popish  priest 
came  by.  The  Jew  called  for  help.  "  You,  a  Jew  !  I  won't 
help  a  Jew."    ^'  If  you  AviH  help  me  out  I  will  be  baptized." 

You  must  be  baptized  first."  The  Jew  consented,  and  then 
begged  to  be  taken  out.  ^'  No,"  said  the  priest,  if  I  let  you 
out  you  will  relapse  into  Judaism  and  so  be  damned.  I  will 
rather  save  your  soul." 

"  And  saying  this  he  in  a  trice 
Clapped  Mordecai  beneath  the  ice." 

Could  and  would  men  closely  examine  they  would  probably 
find  that  their  most  inveterate  religious  prejudices,  which  they 
think  their  most  valuable  religious  convictions,  are  of  such 
origin.  But  Mrs.  Girt's  bits  of  silk  went  far  to  counteract 
the  ballad. 

When  a  child,  like  other  children,  my  faith  was  implicit  in 
what  I  was  told  to  be  true  by  my  mother,  and  I  have  no  sense 
of  devotion  now,  which  I  did  not  catch  from  her. 

The  name  of  the  minister  whose  religious  services  my  father 
and  mother  attended  was  Lincolne.  He  was  a  gentlemanly  per- 
son and  inspired  respect,  especially  by  a  very  large  white  wig. 
He  w^as  often  at  our  house,  and  his  two  daughters  were  my 
mother's  very  great  friends.  When  he  came  I  used  to  be  kept 
at  a  distance,  for  I  was  always  running  about  as  well  as  talk- 
ing, and  he  was  afraid  for  his  gouty  toes.  When  I  set  about 
reading  the  Bible  I  used  to  ask  my  mother  questions.  Her 
prudent  answer  frequently  was,  "  Ask  the  minister,  my  dear." 
I  recollect  hearing  some  anecdotes  told  of  me  and  the  minister, 
and  some  I  seem  to  recollect  myself,  one  especially.  I  had  taken 
a  great  fancy  to  the  Book  of  Revelation  ;  and  I  have  heard,  but 
this  I  don't  recollect,  that  I  asked  Mr.  L.  to  preach  from  that 
book,  because  it  was  my  favorite.  And  why  is  it  your  favorite 
book,  Henry  ] "  "  Because  it  is  so  pretty  and  easy  to  under- 
stand." 

I  had  a  happy  childhood.  The  only  suffering  I  recollect  was 
the  restraint  imposed  upon  me  on  Sundays,  especially  being 
forced  to  go  twice  to  meeting  ;  an  injurious  practice  I  am  satis- 
fied. To  be  forced  to  sit  still  for  two  hours,  not  understanding  a 
word,  was  a  grievance  too  hard  to  be  borne.  I  was  not  allowed 
to  look  into  a  picture-book,  but  was  condemned  to  sit  with  my 
hands  before  me,  or  stand,  according  to  the  service.  The  con- 
sequence was  that  I  was  often  sent  to  bed  without  my  supper 
for  bad  behavior  at  meeting.  In  the  evening  my  father  used 
to  read  aloud  Mr.  Henry's  Commentary,  and  in  winter  it  was  my 


6         REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  1. 

agreeable  occupation  to  turn  the  apple-pie  that  was  in  a  Dutch- 
oven  before  the  fire,  which  was  a  great  relief  from  Mr.  Henry. 
Once  I  recollect  being  whipped  by  my  mother  for  being  naughty 
at  meeting.    A  sad  preparation  for  a  religious  life. 

Now  and  then,  by  way  of  treat  or  reward  for  good  behavior, 
I  was  allowed  to  go  to  the  Independent  meeting  to  hear  Mr. 
Waldegrave  preach.  Mr.  W.  as  I  afterwards  knew,  was  an 
ignorant,  noisy,  ranting  preacher;  he  bawled  loud,  thumped 
the  cushion,  and  sometimes  cried.  He  was,  however,  a  kind 
man,  and  of  course  he  was  a  favorite  of  mine.  It  belongs  per- 
haps to  a  later  time,  but  I  well  recollect  he  repeatedly  used  the 
phrase,  "  But  as  the  Tostle  Paul  say  "  (say  is  Suffolk  grammar). 
And  after  all  I  could  carry  away  a  thought  now  and  then  from 
him. 

To  return  to  my  mother's  instructions ;  I  recollect  a  prac- 
tice of  hers,  which  had  the  best  effect  on  my  mind.  She  never 
would  permit  me  (like  all  children,  a  glutton)  to  empty  the 
dish  at  table  if  there  was  anything  particularly  nice,  such  as 
pudding  or  pie.  "  Henry,  don't  take  any  more  ;  do  you  not 
suppose  the  maids  like  to  have  some  ^  "  A  respect  and  atten- 
tion to  servants  and  inferiors  was  a  constant  lesson ;  and  if  I 
have  any  kindness  and  humanity  in  my  ordinary  feelings  I 
ascribe  it  all  to  her,  and  very  much  to  this  particular  lesson. 

Of  my  schooling  at  Mr.  Lease's  I  have  little  or  nothing  to 
say.  I  was  an  ordinary  boy  and  do  not  recollect  acquiring  any 
distinction  at  school.  The  sons  of  Mr.  Lease  I  knew  and  the 
children  of  some  other  Dissenters  who  went  there  ;  but  some 
others  of  my  acquaintance  went  to  the  grammar  school.  This 
set  them  above  the  rest  of  us,  and  I  believe  I  should  have 
wanted  to  go  to  the  grammar  school  too,  but  I  had  heard 
that  Mr.  Lawrence  was  a  flogging  master,  and  I  was  therefore 
glad  to  escape  going  there. 

It  was  either  in  1782  or  1783,  the  Annual  Register  of  the 
year  will  say  which,  that  there  was  a  very  hard  winter  through- 
out the  country.  To  raise  a  fund  for  the  poor  of  the  town,  the 
grammar-school  boys  were  induced  to  act  plays  at  the  thea- 
tre. I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  some  of  the  boy  actors  ; 
the  principal  play  was  Venice  Preserved.  There  is  nothing 
Worth  noticing  in  the  acting  of  the  tragedy,  but  it  is  a  significant 
circumstance,  and  one  that  belongs  to  the  state  of  moral  and 
religious  feeling  in  the  country  between  sixty  and  seventy 
years  ago,"^  that  the  farce  acted  with  Venice  Preserved  was 

*  This  was  written  in  1845. 


1775-89.]  FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD.  7 


Footers  Minor,  the  performers  being  school-boys  !  It  would 
seem  impossible,  but  it  becomes  less  surprising  when  one  rec- 
ollects that  the  hatred  of  the  clergy  was  still  active  against 
the  Methodists,  that  Dr.  Squintum  (Whitfield)  was  vigorously 
satirized,  and  that  the  religious  classes  were  the  object  of  de- 
rision to  all  the  genteel  part  of  the  community,  especially  to 
the  clergy.  I  only  wonder  that  I  was  allowed  to  be  present, 
but  probably  the  Dissenters,  certainly  my  parents,  knew  noth- 
ing about  such  plays. 

How  much  I  understood  of  the  farce  I  cannot  now  tell. 
Perhaps  little  clearly.  But  children  are  content  with  confused 
and  obscure  perceptions  of  a  pleasurable  character. 

When  very  young  indeed,  my  mother  delighted  me  by  sing- 
ing a  ballad  which  must  be  in  some  of  the  popular  collections. 
It  was  about  the  rich  young  lady  who  lived  "  in  the  famous 
town  of  Reading,"  and  fell  in  love  with  a  poor  lawyer.  She 
challenges  him  and  he  is  forced  to  fight  or  marry  her  in  a  mask. 
He  consults  a  friend  who  answers  : — 

"  If  she  's  rich  yon  are  to  blame, 
If  she 's  poor  you  are  the  same." 

Of  course  it  ends  happily.  I  used  to  delight  in  this  story. 
Children's  moral  feelings  are  not  more  delicate  than  those  of 
the  people  or  their  poets. 

I  recollect  too  the  coming  out  of  John  Gilpin,  and  rather 
think  I  had  a  sixpence  given  me  for  learning  it  by  heart. 

My  mother's  sister  married  a  Dissenting  minister,  Mr.  Fen- 
ner,  who  kept  a  boarding-school  at  Devizes.  I  was  accordingly 
sent  to  his  school,  where  I  remained  three  years.  The  time* 
passed  pleasantly  enough,  but  I  have  often  regretted  that  my 
educational  advantages  were  not  greater  at  this  period  of  my 
life.  Among  the  places  in  the  neighborhood  where  I  spent 
some  happy  days  was  a  gentleman's  seat  called  Blacklands. 
At  that  time  it  was  occupied  by  an  old  gentleman  named 
Maundrel,  one  of  whose  sons  was  at  the  same  school  with  me. 
The  old  gentleman  was  burly  and  bluff,  very  kind  and  gen- 
erous, but  passionate  ;  once  or  twice  he  did  not  scruple  to  box 
the  ears  of  his  young  visitors.  Not  far  from  the  house  was  a 
horse  cut  out  of  the  chalk  hill.  I  believe  it  exists  still. 
Maundrel  set  vis  boys  —  there  were  some  seven  or  eight  of 
us  —  to  weed  it,  and  very  good  workmen  we  Avere.  He  used 
also  to  make  us  carry  logs  of  wood  for  the  fires  up  stairs,  telling 
us  that  we  must  work  for  our  living.    But  he  fed  us  well. 

During  my  school  life  I  obtained  among  my  school-fellows 


8        REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  1. 

the  reputation  of  being  a  good  talker,  and  was  put  forward  as 
a  speaker  on  public  matters  in  school,  such  as  a  combination 
against  a  head-boy.  And  I  was  also  noted  as  an  inventor  of 
tales,  which  I  used  to  relate  to  the  boys  in  bed ;  but  this  fac- 
ulty did  not  grow  with  me,  and  has  utterly  died  away.  I  had 
no  distinction  in  any  branch  of  school  exercise  but  one,  and 
this  was  French.  I  did  not  like  learning  it  at  first,  and  wrote 
to  my  mother  to  beg  that  I  might  be  relieved  from  the  task ; 
but  she  wisely  took  no  notice  of  my  letter.  Before  I  left  school 
I  liked  French  above  everything,  and  was  quite  able  to  read 
with  pleasure  the  French  classics,  as  they  are  called. 

I  did  not  once  go  home  during  the  three  years  of  my  school 
life  at  Devizes,  but  in  the  summer  of  the  second  year  my 
mother  came  to  see  me.  The  sensation  which  I  most  distinct- 
ly recollect  is  that  of  seeing  her  at  the  Turnpike  gate  of  the 
Green.  I  thought  her  altered,  or  rather  for  a  moment  did  not 
know  her,  and  that  pained  me ;  but  she  gradually  became  to 
me  what  she  had  been. 

Though  Mr.  Fenner  was  a  minister  I  received  no  religious 
instruction  at  his  school.  What  I  fancied  to  be  religion  was 
of  my  own  procuring.  I  had  fallen  in  .with  De  Foe's  Family 
Instructor,  and  I  became  at  once  in  imagination  a  religious 
teacher.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  trying  my  power,  for  during 
one  of  my  last  holidays  I  was  left  with  a  few  Irish  boys  when 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fenner  went  a  journey.  I  was  the  older  and 
placed  in  authority  over  the  other  boys,  and  I  was  not  a  little 
pleased  with  myself  for  my  mode  of  governing  them.  On  the 
Sunday  I  read  a  sermon  to  them,  and  I  made  the  boys  and 
servants  attend  prayers.  But  I  scorned  reading  a  prayer ;  I 
prayed  extempore,  and  did  not  hold  my  gift  in  low  estimation. 

In  the  summer  of  1789  I  returned  home  with  Mr.  Fenner 
and  my  aunt.  My  uncle  Crabb  had  a  few  years  before  accept- 
ed the  office  of  pastor  at  the  Wattisfield  meeting,  and  as  he 
intended  to  open  a  school  there,  I  went  to  him  for  the  next 
half-year.  Our  numbers  were  so  few  that  we  were  subject  to 
little  of  the  ordinary  restraint  of  school. 

It  was  while  here  that  I  had  a  letter  from  my  brother 
Thomas  directed  to  Mr.  Robinson,  Attorney  at  Law."  I  had 
to  ask  Mr.  Crabb  to  explain  to  me  the  nature  of  an  attorney's 
profession,  which  had  been  chosen  for  me  without  my  knowl- 
edge. 

So  entirely  have  I  lost  all  recollection  of  the  few  months 
spent  at  ^Wattisfield  that  I  cannot  call  to  mind  anything 


1775  -  89.] 


FAMILY  AND  CHILDHOOD. 


9 


I  studied  or  read.  I  only  recollect  having  a  sentiment  of  re- 
spect and  regard  towards  Mr.  Crabb. 

I  recollect  too  that  it  was  while  I  was  with  Mr.  Crabb  that 
the  French  Eevolution  broke  out,  that  every  one  rejoiced  in 
it  as  an  event  of  great  promise,  and  that  Popery  and  absolute 
government  were  both  to  be  destroyed.  Though  I  had  no 
proper  political  knowledge,  yet  I  had  strong  party  feelings. 
In  my  childhood  I  had  always  heard  the  Church  spoken  of  as 
an  unjust  institution,  and  thought  Dissenters  a  persecuted 
body. 

I  can  testify  to  this  fact,  that  very  strong  prejudice  may  be 
raised  without  any  degree  or  sort  of  knowledge  in  justification 
of  the  sentiment.  I  knew  too  I  was,  or  rather  that  my  friends 
were  Presbyterians,  and  I  had  a  vague  notion  that  the  Inde- 
pendents were  more  orthodox  than  was  reasonable,  and  that 
there  was  a  degree  of  rationality  compatible  with  sound  doc- 
trine. Mr.  Lincolne,  too,  our  minister,  was  much  more  of  a 
gentleman  and  scholar  than  Mr.  Waldegrave,  the  Independent 
minister. 

Among  my  letters  are  a  number  by  my  dear  mother.  Her 
memory  is  very  dear  to  me,  but  I  would  not  have  these  letters 
survive  me.  They  would  not  agreeably  impress  a  stranger, 
but  they  express  the  warm  alFections  of  a  fond  mother,  full  of 
anxiety  for  the  welfare  of  her  children.  Her  mother-love  was 
combined  with  earnest  piety.  She  had  no  doctrinal  zeal,  and 
seems,  though  educated  in  a  rigidly  orthodox  family,  to  have 
had  very  little  knowledge  of  religious  controversy. 

It  is  worth  mentioning  that  I  have  found  my  mother's  Ex- 
perience^ that  is  the  paper  she  delivered  in  before  she  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  church  at  Wattisfield.  The  paper  is 
in  one  respect  curious  ;  it  shows  that  at  that  time  even  among 
the  Independents,  doctrinal  faith  was  not  the  subject  o^a  for- 
mal profession,  though  of  course  inferred.  In  this  paper  there 
is  no  allusion  to  the  Trinity,  or  any  other  disputed  doctrine. 
Indeed,  the  word  belief  scarcely  occurs.  The  one  sentiment 
which  runs  throughout  is  a  consciousness  of  personal  unworthi- 
ness,  with  which  are  combined  a  desire  to  be  united  to  the 
Church,  and  a  reliance  upon  the  merits  of  Christ.  Therefore 
her  orthodoxy  was  indisputable.  But  when  in  after  life  her 
brother  (the  minister,  Mr.  Habakkuk  Crabb)  became  heretical, 
either  Arian  or  Unitarian,  and  his  son  also  professed  liberal 
opinions,  she  was  not  disturbed  by  these  things  of  which  she 
had  a  very  slight  knowledge. 
1* 


10       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  2. 


CHAPTER  11. 

AN  ARTICLED  CLERK  AT  COLCHESTER. 

WHILE  I  lived  as  an  articled  clerk  with  Mr.  Francis  of 
Colchester,  I  learned  the  ordinary  routine  of  an  attor- 
ney's office  and  was  absorbed  in  newspaper  and  pamphlet  read- 
ing, in  which  religious  controversy  was  included. 

On  religious  subjects  I  seem  very  quietly  to  have  given  up 
my  orthodoxy,  and  to  have  felt  strongly  for  Dr.  Priestley  on 
account  of  the  Birmingham  riots ;  but  even  the  orthodox  Dis- 
senters became  sympathizing  on  that  occasion.  I  attended  a 
meeting  of  Dissenters  at  Chelmsford  to  appoint  deputies  to  go 
to  London  to  concert  measures  for  the  repeal  of  The  Corpora- 
tion and  Test  Act ;  we  dined  together,  and  among  the  toasts 
given  was  one  in  honor  of  Dr.  Priestley  and  other  Christian 
sufferers.  I  recollect  that  I  was  irritated  by  the  objection  of 
one  who  was  present  that  he  did  not  know  Dr.  Priestley  to  be 
a  Christian.  I  replied  that  if  this  gentleman  had  read  Priest- 
ley's Letter  to  the  Swedenborgians  he  would  have  learned 
more  of  real  Christianity  than  he  seemed  to  know.  I  had  my- 
self, however,  not  formed  any  distinct  religious  opinions,  but 
felt  deeply  the  importance  of  religious  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  conscience. 

Through  Mr.  Dobson,  who  afterwards  became  a  distinguished 
mathematician  at  Cambridge,  I  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
a  number  of  French  emigrants  on  their  escape  from  France 
during  the  horrors  of  the  Eevolution,  and  my  compassion  for 
them  ihodified  my  Jacobinical  feelings.  I  was,  however,  a 
Jacobin  notwithstanding,  and  felt  great  interest  in  one  Mr. 
Patmore,  who  was  indicted  for  selling  some  of  Paine's  works, 
and  ultimately  escaped  through  a  defect  in  the  indictment. 
But  my  Journal  records  my  shock  at  the  death  of  the  King 
of  France.  My  French  attachment  expired  with  the  Brisso- 
tine  party,  though  in  my  occasional  pious  moods  I  used  to 
pray  for  the  French. 

At  the  spring  assizes  of  1791,  when  I  had  nearly  attained 
my  sixteenth  year,  I  had  the  delight  of  hearing  Erskine.  It 
was  a  high  enjoyment,  and  I  was  able  to  profit  by  it.  The 
subject  of  the  trial  was  the  validity  of  a  will,  —  Braham  v. 


1790-95.]      AN  ARTICLED  CLERK  AT  COLCHESTER. 


11 


Rivett.  Erskine  came  down  specially  retained  for  the  plaintiff, 
and  Mingay  for  the  defendant.  The  trial*  lasted  two  days. 
The  title  of  the  heir  being  admitted,  the  proof  of  the  will  was 
gone  into  at  once.  I  have  a  recollection  of  many  of  the  cir- 
cumstances after  more  than  fifty-four  years  ;  but  of  nothing  do 
I  retain  so  perfect  a  recollection  as  of  the  figure  and  voice  of 
Erskine.  There  was  a  charm  in  his  voice,  a  fascination  in  his 
eye,  and  so  completely  had  he  won  my  affection  that  I  am  sure 
had  the  verdict  been  given  against  him  I  should  have  burst 
out  crying.  Of  the  facts  and  of  the  evidence  I  do  not  pretend 
to  recollect  anything  beyond  my  impressions  and  sensations. 
My  pocket-book  records  that  Erskine  was  engaged  two  and  a 
half  hours  in  opening  the  case,  and  Mingay  two  hours  and 
twenty  minutes  in  his  speech  in  defence.  E.'s  reply  occupied 
three  hours.  The  testatrix  was  an  old  lady  in  a  state  of  im- 
becility. The  evil  spirit  of  the  case  was  an  attorney.  Mingay 
was  loud  and  violent,  and  gave  Erskine  an  opportunity  of 
turning  into  ridicule  his  imagery  and  illustrations.  For  in- 
stance, M.  having  compared  R.  to  the  Devil  going  into  the 
garden  of  Eden,  E.  drew  a  closer  parallel  than  M.  intended. 
Satan's  first  sight  of  Eve  was  related  in  Milton's  words, 

"  Grace  was  in  all  her  steps,  heaven  in  her  eye, 
In  every  gesture  dignity  and  love  "  ; 

and  then  a  picture  of  idiotcy  from  Swift  was  contrasted.  But 
the  sentence  that  weighed  on  my  spirits  was  a  pathetic  excla- 
mation, "  If,  gentlemen,  you  should  by  your  verdict  annihi- 
late an  instrument  so  solemnly  framed,  /  should  retire  a  troubled 
man  from  this  courts  And  as  he  uttered  the  word  court,  he 
beat  his  breast  and  I  had  a  difficulty  in  not  crying  out.  When 
in  bed  the  following  night  I  awoke  several  times  in  a  state  of 
excitement  approaching  fever,  the  words  "troubled  man  from 
this  court "  rang  in  my  ears. 

A  new  trial  was  granted,  and  ultimately  the  will  was  set 
aside.  I  have  said  I  profited  by  Erskine.  I  remarked  his 
great  artifice,  if  I  may  call  it  so  ;  and  in  a  small  way  I  after-, 
w^ards  practised  it.  It  lay  in  his  frequent  repetitions.  He  had 
one  or  two  leading  arguments  and  main  facts  on  which  he  was 
constantly  dwelling.  But  then  he  had  marvellous  skill  in 
varying  his  phraseology,  so  that  no  one  was  sensible  of  tautol- 
ology  in  the  expressions.  Like  the  doubling  of  a  hare,  he  was 
perpetually  coming  to  his  old  place.  Other  great  advocates  I 
have  remarked  were  ambitious  of  a  great  variety  of  arguments. 

About  the  same  time  that  I  thus  first  heard  the  most  perfect 


12       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  2. 


of  forensic  orators,  I  was  also  present  at  an  exhibition- equally 
admirable,  and  winch  had  a  powerful  effect  on  my  mind.  It 
was,  I  believe,  in  October,  1790,  and  not  long  before  his  death, 
that  I  heard  John  Wesley  in  the  great  round  meeting-house 
at  Colchester.  He  stood  in  a  wide  pulpit,  and  on  each  side  of 
him  stood  a  minister,  and  the  two  held  him  up,  having  their 
hands  under  his  armpits.  His  feeble  voice  was  barely  audible. 
But  his  reverend  countenance,  especially  his  long  white  locks, 
formed  a  picture  never  to  be  forgotten.  There  was  a  vast 
crowd  of  lovers  and  admirers.  It  was  for  the  most  part  pan- 
tomime, but  the  pantomime  went  to  the  heart.  Of  the  kind 
I  never  saw  anything  comparable  to  it  in  after  life.* 

The  following  letter  enters  a  little  more  into  particulars 
respecting  this  interesting  occasion  :  — 

October  18,  1790. 

Dear  Brother  :  — 

....  I  felt  a  gxeat  Satisfaction  last  Week,  on  Monday,  in 
hearing  (excuse  me  now)  that  veteran  in  the  Service  of  God, 
the  Rev.  John  Wesley.  I  was  informed  in  the  Afternoon  that 
he  was  in  Town  and  would  preach  that  Evening.  Unfortu- 
nately a  sick  Man  had  sent  to  have  his  Will  made  directly, 
and  it  was  given  to  me  to  write.  But  Mr.  Francis,  seeing  how 
mortified  I  appeared,  gave  it  to  some  one  else,  and  I  went  to 
the  Chapel.  At  another  time,  and  mi  knowing  the  Man,  I 
should  almost  have  ridiculed  his  figure.  Far  from  it  now.  I 
lookt  upon  him  with  a  respect  bordering  iipon  Enthusiasm. 
After  the  people  had  sung  one  Yerse  of  a  hymn  he  arose,  and 
said  :  "  It  gives  me  a  great  pleasure  to  find  that  you  have  not 
lost  your  Singing.  Neither  Men  nor  Women  —  you  have  not 
forgot  a  single  Note.  And  I  hope  that  by  the  assistance  of 
the  same  God  which  enables  you  to  sing  well,  you  may  do  all 
other  things  well."  A  Universal  Amen  followed.  At  the  End 
of  every  Head  or  Division  of  his  Discourse,  he.  finished  by  a 
kind  of  Prayer,  a  Momentary  Wish  as  it  were,  not  consisting  of 
more  than  three  or  four  words,  which  was  always  followed  by 
a  Universal  Buzz.  His  discourse  was  short  —  the  Text  I 
could  not  hear.  After  the  last  Prayer,  he  rose  up  and  ad- 
dressed the  People  on  Liberality  of  Sentiment,  and  spoke 
much  against  refusing  to  join  with  any  Congregation  on  ac- 

*  I  have  hoard  Mr.  R.  tell  this  more  than  once  at  his  own  table,  with  the  in- 
teresting addition  that  so  greatly  was  the  preacher  revered  that  the  people 
stood  in  a  donble  line  to  sec  him  as  he  passed  through  the  street  on  his  way  to 
the  chapel.  — G.  S. 


1790-95.]      AN  ARTICLED  CLERK  AT  COLCHESTER. 


13 


count  of  difference  of  Opinion.  He  said,  "  If  they  do  but  fear 
God,  work  righteousness,  and  keep  his  commandments,  we 
have  nothing  to  object  to."  He  preached  again  on  Tuesday 
Evening,  but  I  was  out  of  Town  with  Mr.  Francis  all  day,  hold- 
ing a  Court  Baron  

I  remain,  &c., 

H.  C.  R. 

1793. 

On  the  8th  of  January  in  this  year  died  my  dear  mother, 
an  excellent  woman  I  firmly  believe,  though  without  any  supe- 
riority of  mind  or  attainments.  Her  worth  lay  in  the  warmth 
of  her  domestic  affections,  and  in  her  unaffected  simple  piety. 
After  fifty-two  years  I  think  of  her  with  unabated  esteem 
and  regard. 

1794. 

Among  my  Colchester  acquaintance  there  is  one  man  of 
great  ability  whom  I  recollect  with  pleasure,  though  I  was 
but  slightly  acquainted  with  him.  This  is  Ben  Strutt.  He 
was  a  self-educated  man,  but  having  been  clerk  to  a  provincial 
barrister,  the  Recorder  of  the  town,  where  he  had  a  great  deal 
of  leisure,  he  had  become  a  hard  reader  and  so  acquired  a  great 
deal  of  knowledge.  He  was  a  man  of  literature  and  art,  and  with- 
out being  an  attorney  knew  a  great  deal  of  law.  He  was  a  sort 
of  agent  to  country  gentlemen,  particularly  in  elections.  He 
published  an  edition  of  the  poems  of  Collins,  whom  he  praised 
and  declared  to  be  much  superior  to  Gray.  And  I  think  (though 
I  have  lost  the  book)  that  it  contains  additional  stanzas  by  him- 
self to  the  Ode  on  Superstition.  Strutt  also  painted  in  oil,  and 
was  skilfid  as  a  mechanic.  I  recollect  once  having  a  peep  into 
his  bedroom,  in  which  were  curious  figures  and  objects  which  I 
beheld  with  some  of  the  awe  of  ignorance.  I  looked  up  to  him, 
and  his  words  made  an  impression  on  me.  One  or  two  I  recol- 
lect. When  I  went  to  Colchester  I  was  very  desirous  of  study- 
ing, but  I  had  no  one  to  direct  me,  and  therefore  followed  the 
routine  practice  and  advice  given  to  all  clerks.  I  bought  a 
huge  folio  volume  to  be  filled  with  precedents,  and  copied 
therein  my  articles  of  clerkship.  One  evening  I  was  writing 
very  industriously  in  this  volume  when  Ben  Strutt  came  in. 

I 'm  sorry  to  see  you  so  lazy,  young  gentleman  !  "  Lazy  ! 
I  think  I 'm  very  industrious."  "  You  do  Well  now,  what- 
ever you  think,  let  me  tell  you  that  your  writing  in  that  book 


14      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  2. 


is  sheer  laziness.  You  are  too  lazy  to  work  as  you  ought  with 
your  head,  and  so  you  set  your  fingers  at  work  to  give  your 
head  a  holiday.  You  know  it  is  your  duty  to  do  something, 
and  try  to  become  a  lawyer,  and  just  to  ease  your  conscience 
you  do  that.  Had  you  been  really  industrious  you  would  have 
studied  the  principles  of  law  and  carried  the  precedents  in  your 
head.  And  then  you  might  make  precedents,  not  follow  them." 
I  shut  up  the  book  and  never  wrote  another  line ;  it  is  still  in 
existence,"^  a  memorial  of  Strutt.  Yet  Mephistopheles  might 
have  given  the  advice,  for  in  my  case  it  did  harm,  not  good.  S. 
was  cynical,  a  free-thinker,  I  think  an  unbeliever.  Yet  one  day 
he  said  something  that  implied  he  was  a  churchman.  What !  " 
I  exclaimed,  "  you  a  churchman  !  "  He  laughed  :  ^'  Let  me  give 
you  a  piece  of  advice,  young  man.  Whatever  you  be  through 
life,  always  be  of  the  Act  of  Parliament  faith." 

I  recollect  a  wise  word  of  Strutt's  about  law.  I  had  been 
repeating  to  him  some  commonplace  saying  that  governments 
ought  to  enounce  great  principles,  and  not  to  interfere  with 
men's  actions  or  details.  "  Just  the  contrary,"  growled 
Strutt,  "  government  has  to  do  with  nothing  but  details ; 
of  course  it  ought  to  do  the  right,  not  the  wrong  thing,  and  it 
makes  many  blunders.  There  is  no  use  in  prating  about  ab- 
stract rights.  It  is  the  business  of  government  to  counsel 
people  to  do  what  is  right."  In  the  same  spirit  at  another 
time  he  said,  I  having  uttered  some  commonplace  saying  as  if 
Locke's  principles  had  produced  the  Revolution  :  "  That 's  all 
nonsense,  Locke's  book  was  the  effect,  not  the  cause  of  the 
Revolution.  People  do  not  rebel  and  overset  governments  be- 
cause they  have  any  ideas  about  liberty  and  right,  but  because 
they  are  wretched,  and  cannot  bear  what  they  suffer.  The  new 
government  employed  Locke  to  justify  what  they  had  done, 
and  to  remove  the  scruples  of  weak,  conscientious  people."  I 
believe  I  owe  a  great  deal  to  Strutt,  for  he  set  me  thinking,  and 
had  he  been  my  regular  instructor  might  have  really  educated 
me.  But  I  saw  him  only  now  and  then.  I  once  saw  him  by 
accident  in  London  a  few  years  after  I  had  left  Mr.  Francis.  He 
was  going  to  the  Opera ;  I  mentioned  that  I  had  no  ear  for 
music,  least  of  all  for  Italian  music.       Get  it  as  soon  as  you 

*  Yes.  It  was  found  among  his  books  by  his  executoxs  after  his  death.  It 
gives  evidence  of  great  industry,  accuracy,  and  neatness  as  well  as  order  and 
method.  On  page  76  of  the  book  is  the  following  memorandum  at  the  end  of 
one  of  the  precedents:  "  Wrote  this  April  1st,  1791,  the  first  year  of  my  clerk- 
ship being  then  finished."  The  book  is  continued  to  page  120,  and  finally  stops 
in  the  middle  of  a  precedent. 


1790-95.]      AN  ARTICLED  CLERK  AT  COLCHESTER. 


15 


can.  You  must  one  day  love  Italian  music,  either  in  this  or 
another  life.  It  is  your  business  to  get  as  much  as  you  can 
here^  —  for,  as  you  leave  off  here  you  must  begin  there.''''  This, 
if  seriously  said,  implied  a  sort  of  hope  of  immortality  very 
much  like  that  of  Goethe. 

Ben  Strutt  has  been  many  years  dead.  He  had  a  son  who 
survived  him  and  became  a  painter.  He  made  a  portrait  of 
me,  a  disagreeable  but  a  strong  likeness. 

On  my  becoming  clerk  at  Colchester,  only  thirteen  miles 
from  Witham,  I  had  frequent  opportunities  of  visiting  m}^  rela- 
tives, the  Isaacs,  and  through  them  I  became  acquainted  with 
others.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Jacob  Pattisson.  He  had  a  wife 
whom  he  married  late  in  life,  —  a  coasin,  deformed  in  person  and 
disfigured  by  the  small-pox,  but  there  was  a  benignity  and  moral 
beauty  in  her  face  which  rendered  her  a  universal  favorite.  Mr. 
Pattisson  had  only  one  child,  who  became  my  most  intimate 
friend  for  many  years,  and  our  regard  has  never  ceased.  He  is 
a  few  months  younger  than  myself.  His  education  had  been 
much  better  than  mine ;  when  young  he  was  at  Mr.  Barbauld's 
school.  But  his  Dissenting  connections  had  not  been  favorable 
to  his  forming  acquaintance  superior  to  himself,  though  his  own 
family  were  wealthy.  So  that  when  he  and  I  met  at  Witham, 
each  thought  the  other  a  great  acquisition.  Being  of  the  same 
profession,  having  alike  an  earnest  desire  to  improve,  and  being 
alike  ignorant  how  to  set  about  it,  we  knew  no  better  expedient 
than  to  become  correspondents,  and  I  have  preserved  a  formid- 
able bundle  of  his  letters,  with  copies  of  my  own.  I  have  glanced 
over  those  of  the  first  year,  —  we  began  to  write  in  the  spring, 
—  I  had  hoped  to  find  in  them  some  references  to  incidents  that 
occurred,  but  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  They  are  mere  essays 
on  abstract  subjects,  mine  at  least  very  ill-written  and  evincing 
no  original  thought  whatever  ;  law  questions  are  discussed  and 
criticisms  on  style  fill  many  a  dull  page.  There  are  also  occa- 
sional bursts  of  Jacobin  politics.  It  was  this  friend  who  drew 
my  attention  to  the  Cabinet^  a  Norwich  periodical,  and  set  me 
on  fleshing  my  maiden  sword  in  ink. 

It  was 'in  December,  1794,  that  my  vanity  was  delighted  by 
the  appearance  in  print  of  an  essay  I  wrote  on  Spies  and  In- 
formers. It  was  published  in  the  Cabinet^  which  had  been  got 
up  by  the  young  liberals  of  the  then  aspiring  town  of  Norwich, 
which  at  that  time  possessed  two  men  of  eminent  abilities,  — 
William  Taylor  and  Dr.  Sayers.  They,  however,  took  very  little, 
or  no  part,  in  the  Cabinet,    Charles  Marsh,  Pitchford,  Norgate 


16       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  2. 


and  Amelia  Alderson  were  its  heroes.  My  essay  is  very  ill  writ- 
ten, only  one  thought  rather  pompously  expanded,  viz.  that  the 
shame  of  being  an  informer  ought  to  be  transferred  to  the  Law  ; 
for  the  detection  of  the  breach  of  good  laws  ought  to  be  honored. 
My  friend  Will  Pattisson  was  also  a  contributor  to  this  periodi- 
cal, under  the  signature  of  Husticus. 

Another  friend  of  this  period,  with  whom  I  have  ever  since 
retained  an  intimate  acquaintance,  was  Thomas  Amyot.  At 
the  time  of  my  beginning  a  correspondence  with  Pattisson 
he  was  already  the  correspondent  of  Amyot.  He  communi- 
cated the  letters  of  each  to  the  other,  and  from  first  writing 
on  Pattisson's  letters  we  began  to  write  to  each  other  directly, 
and  became  correspondents  without  having  seen  each  other. 
Amyot's  letters  are  far  the  best  of  the  whole  collection,  as  in 
ability  and  taste  he  was  far  the  superior  of  the  three.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  watchmaker  in  Norwich,  and  clerk  in  the 
house  of  some  eminent  solicitors  in  that  town.  Our  corre- 
spondence had  led  to  an  invitation  to  visit  Amyot,  and  Pattis- 
son joining  me  in  the  visit,  we  met  at  the  house  of  Amyot's 
father  on  the  5th  of  December  and  remained  there  till  the 
9th.  Within  a  few  years  of  this  time,  Amyot  married  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  Colman,  a  Norwich  surgeon.  He  was  fortu- 
nate enough  to  become  the  law  agent  of  Mr.  Windham,  and  when 
the  latter  became  War  and  Colonial  Minister,  he  offered  Amyot 
the  post  of  private  secretary.  This  was  readily  accepted,  and 
when  after  the  death  of  his  patron  this  place  was  wanted  for 
some  one  else,  he  was  appointed  Registrar  in  London  of  the 
West  India  Slaves,  an  office  which  still  remains,  though  slav- 
ery has  been  long  abolished.  Why  this  should  be  I  could 
never  learn.  He  became  an  active  F.  S.  A.,  and  is  now  (1846) 
treasurer  of  that  learned  and  very  dull  body. 

My  visit  to  Norwich  made  me  also  acquainted  with  Mrs. 
Clarkson,  and  that  excellent  couple  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Taylor, 
the  parents  of  a  numerous  family,  among  whom  is  Mrs. 
Austin.  With  several  of  the  sons  I  am  now  in  very  friendly, 
not  to  say  intimate  relations.  I  was  also  very  civilly  received 
by  Dr.  Alderson,  the  father  of  Amelia,  who  afterwards  became 
Mrs.  Opie.  I  even  now  retain  a  lively  recollection  of  this 
young  lady's  visit  to  Bury,  and  of  the  interest  excited  by  her 
accomplishments  and  literary  celebrity.  Another  person  with 
whom  I  became  acquainted  was  William  Taylor,  of  whom  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  write  hereafter. 

The  perusal  of  my  Journal  for  the  year  1794  has  brought  a 


1790-95.]      AN  ARTICLED  CLEEK  AT  COLCHESTER. 


17 


few  facts  to  my  recollection  that  deserve  to  be  briefly  men- 
tioned. The  chief  of  these  are  the  famous  State  Trials  of 
Hardy,  Horne  Tooke,  and  ThelwalL  I  felt  an  intense  interest 
in  them.  During  the  first  trial  I  was  in  a  state  of  agitation 
that  rendered  me  unfit  for  business.  I  used  to  beset  the  post- 
office  early,  and  one  morning  at  six  I  obtained  the  London 
paper  with  "Not  GuiCty"  printed  in  letters  an  inch  in 
height,  recording  the  issue  of  Hardy's  trial.  I  ran  about  the 
town  knocking  at  people's  doors,  and  screaming  out  the  joyful 
words. 

Thomas  Hardy,  who  was  a  shoemaker,  made  a  sort  of  cir- 
cuit, and  obtained,  of  course,  many  an  order  in  the  way  of 
his  trade.  In  1795  he  visited  Bury,  when  I  also  gave  him  an 
order,  and  I  continued  to  employ  him  for  many  years.  His 
acquaintance  was  not  without  its  use  to  me,  for  his  shop  was 
one  in  which  obscure  patriots  (like  myself)  became  known  to 
each  other.  Hardy  was  a  good-hearted,  simple,  and  honest 
man.  He  had  neither  the  talents  nor  the  vices  which  might 
be  supposed  to  belong  to  an  acquitted  traitor.  He  lived  to  an 
advanced  age  and  died  universally  respected. 

Thelwall,  unlike  Hardy,  had  the  weakness  of  vanity,  but  he 
was  a  perfectly  honest  man,  and  had  a  power  of  declamation 
which  qualified  him  to  be  a  mob  orator.  He  used  to  say  that 
if  he  were  at  the  gallows  with  liberty  to  address  the  people 
for  half  an  hour,  he  should  not  fear  the  result ;  he  was  sure 
he  could  excite  them  to  a  rescue.  I  became  acquainted  with 
him  soon  after  his  acquittal,  and  never  ceased  to  respect  him 
for  his  sincerity,  though  I  did  not  think  highly  of  his  under- 
standing. His  wife,  who  was  his  good  angel,  was  a  very 
amiable  and  excellent  woman.  He  was  many  years  a  widower, 
but  at  last  married  a  person  considerably  younger  than  him- 
self. Thelwall's  two  sons,  Hampden  and  Sydney,  became 
clergymen. 


B 


18       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  3. 


CHAPTER  III. 

INTERVAL   AT  BURY. 

AFTER  leaving  Colchester  at  midsummer,  1795,  I  re- 
mained at  Bmy  till  April  in  the  next  year.  During 
this  time  I  had  serious  thoughts  of  being  called  to  the  bar ; 
it  was  I  believe  Mr.  Buck  who  put  this  into  my  head.  He 
had  alvfays  a  good  opinion  of  me.  My  vivacity  in  conversa- 
tion pleased  him,  and  others  like  him  entertained  the  very 
false  notion  that  the  gift  of  words  is  the  main  requisite  for  a  bar- 
rister, —  a  vulgar  error,  which  the  marvellous  success  of  such 
men  as  Erskine  and  Garrow  had  encouraged.  I  was  invited 
to  meet  Mr.  Capel  Loftl  at  dinner,  that  I  might  have  the  bene- 
fit of  his  opinion.  He  was  against  my  being  called.  My 
acquaintance  in  general  —  among  others  not  yet  named,  Wal- 
ter Wright  —  concurred  in  this  view,  and  the  effect  was  that  I 
neglected  being  entered  a  member  of  an  Inn  of  Court ;  never- 
theless I  was  averse  to  being  an  attorney,  for  which  I  was  as 
little  qualified  as  to  be  a  barrister.  I  determined,  however,  to 
read  law  and  occupy  myself  as  well  as  I  could,  living  mean- 
while with  the  utmost  economy.  W^ith  youth,  health,  high 
spirits,  and,  alternating  with  a  very  low  opinion  of  myself,  a 
vanity  which  was  gratified  by  perceiving  that  I  could  readily 
make  my  way  in  society,  I  was  able  to  lead  a  busy  idle  life. 
In  me  was  verified  the  strenna  inertia  of  Horace.  And  in  so- 
ciety I  verified  a  line  of  the  French  Horace,  as  his  country- 
men term  him,  — 

"  Tin  sot  tronve  toujours  un  plus  sot  qui  I'admire." 

I  was  now,  as  it  were,  entering  society,  and  before  I  relate 
the  few  incidents  of  the  year,  I  will  review  the  more  remarka- 
ble of  the  persons  I  then  knew. 

The  most  noticeable  person  I  had  ever  been  in  company 
with  was  Capel  LofFt,  —  a  gentleman  of  good  family  and 
estate,  —  an  author  on  an  infinity  of  subjects  ;  his  books  were 
on  Law,  History,  Poetry,  Antiquities,  Divinity,  and  Politics. 
He  was  then  an  acting  magistrate,  having  abandoned  the  pro- 
fession of  the  bar.  He  was  one  of  the  numerous  answerers 
of  Burke ;  and  in  spite  of  a  feeble  voice  and  other  disadvan- 


1795.] 


INTERVAL  AT  BURY. 


19 


tages,  an  eloquent  speaker.  This  faculty  combined  with  his 
rank  and  literary  reputation  made  him  the  object  of  my  admi- 
ration. 

Another  of  my  acquaintances  was  Walter  Wright.  He  was 
rather  older  than  myself,  and  the  object  of  my  envy  for  having 
been  at  Cambridge.  He  had  been  trained  for  the  bar,  but  ac- 
cepted a  colonial  appointment,  first  at  Corfu  and  afterwards 
at  Malta.  Wright  published  a  small  volume  of  poems  entitled 
Horae  lonicse,  which  Lord  Byron  praised  warmly  in  his  first 
satire.  It  was  from  his  friend  I  used  to  hear  of  Lord  Byron 
when  his  fame  first  arose.  W.  was  the  friend  of  Dallas,  a  bar- 
rister, and  told  me  one  day  (this  is  anticipation)  that  he  had 
been  reading  a  MS.  poem,  consisting  of  two  cantos,  entitled 
"  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage,"  which  Lord  B.  offered  to  present 
to  Dallas  if  he  thought  it  worth  his  acceptance.  "  I  have  told 
him,"  said  Wright,  "  that  I  have  no  doubt  this  will  succeed. 
Lord  B.  had  offered  him  before  some  translations  from  Horace, 
which  I  told  him  would  never  sell,  and  he  did  not  take 
them." 

Walter  Wright  was  Recorder  of  Bury.*  He  always  ex- 
pressed a  great  interest  in  me  ;  and  though  at  this  time  he 
discouraged  my  going  to  the  bar  he  approved  of  my  doing  so 
some  years  later. 

But  of  far  greater  influence  over  me  was  the  family  of  Mr. 
Buck.  And  among  these  the  one  to  whom  I  was  most  devoted 
was  his  eldest  daughter,  Catherine.  She  was  three  years  older 
than  I.  Being  the  playfellow  of  her  brother  John,  who  was 
of  my  own  age,  I  soon  became  intimate  at  the  house  ;  as  I  was 
perhaps  the  most  promising  of  her  brother's  playfellows,  Cath- 
erine took  me  in  hand  to  bring  me  forward.  I  have  very 
severe  letters  from  her,  reproaching  me  for  slovenliness  in 
dress,  as  well  as  rudeness  of  behavior.  But  at  the  same  time 
she  lent  me  books,  made  me  first  acquainted  with  the  new 
opinions  that  were  then  afloat,  and  was  my  oracle  till  her  mar- 
riage with  the  then  celebrated  Thomas  Clarkson,  the  founder 
of  the  society  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  After  her 
marriage  she  quitted  Bury,  but  our  friendship  never  ceased, 
and  her  name  will  frequently  occur  in  these  reminiscences. 
Catherine  Buck  was  the  most  eloquent  woman  I  have  ever 
known,  with  the  exception  of  Madame  de  Stael.  She  had  a 
quick  apprehension  of  every  kind  of  beauty,  and  made  her 

*  This  seems  to  be  an  error.  John  Symonds,  LL.D.,  was  Recorder  at  this 
period. 


20       EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  3. 


own  whatever  she  learned.  She  introduced  me  to  Lamb,  Cole- 
ridge, Wordsworth,  &c.^ 

Catherine  Buck  had  an  intimate  friend  in  Sarah  Jane 
Maling,  a  person  rather  older  than  herself  and  of  much 
originality  of  mind  and  character.  She  was  also  one  of  my 
friends. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  this  year  and  before  I  left  Colchester 
that  I  read  a  book  which  gave  a  turn  to  my  mind,  and  in 
effect  directed  the  whole  course  of  my  life,  —  a  book  which, 
after  producing  a  powerful  effect  on  the  youth  of  that  genera- 
tion, has  now  sunk  into  unmerited  oblivion.  This  was  God- 
win's Political  Justice.  I  was  in  some  measure  prepared  for  it 
by  an  acquaintance  with  Holcroffc's  novels,  and  it  came  recom- 
mended to  me  by  the  praise  of  Catherine  Buck.  I  entered 
fully  into  its  spirit,  it  left  all  others  behind  in  my  admiration, 
and  I  was  willing  even  to  become  a  martyr  for  it ;  for  it  soon 
became  a  reproach  to  be  a  follower  of  Godwin,  on  account  of 
his  supposed  atheism.  I  niBver  became  an  atheist,  but  I  could 
not  feel  aversion  or  contempt  towards  G.  on  account  of  any  of 
his  views.  In  one  respect  the  book  had  an  excellent  effect  on 
my  mind,  —  it  made  me  feel  more  generously/,  I  had  never 
before,  nor,  I  am  afraid,  have  I  ever  since  felt  so  strongly  the 
duty  of  not  living  to  one's  self,  but  of  having  for  one's  sole 
object  the  good  of  the  community.  His  idea  of  justice  I  then 
adopted  and  still  retain  ;  nor  was  I  alarmed  by  the  declama- 
tions so  generally  uttered  against  his  opinions  on  the  obliga- 
tions of  gratitude,  the  fulfilment  of  promises,  and  the  duties 
arising  out  of  the  personal  relations  of  life.  I  perceived  then 
the  difference  between  principles  as  universal  laws,  and  max- 
ims of  conduct  as  prudential  rules.  And  I  thought  myself 
qualified  to  be  his  defender,  for  which  purpose  I  wrote  a  paper 
which  was  printed  in  Flower's  Cambridge  Intelligencer.  But 

*  She  felt  it  to  be,  as  she  herself  expresses  it,  "  a  prodigious  disadvantage 
to  a  man  not  to  have  had  a  sister."  But  in  Mr.  Robinson's  case  she  did  her 
utmost  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  Indeed,  few  elder  sisters  have  done  more 
for  her  brother  than  she  seems  to  have  done  for  her  friend.  He  had  so  much 
esteem  for  her  judgment  and  such  a  perfect  reliance  on  the  genuine  kindness 
which  actuated  all  her  conduct  towards  him  that  there  was  no  dangei'  of 
offence  or  misunderstanding  when  she  pointed  out  his  weakness  or  faults,  and 
expressed  her  anxiety  as  to  the  effect  of  any  pursuit  on  his  character  or  on  his 
health.  "There  are  many  points,"  she  says,  "in  which  from  the  circum- 
stances in  which  you  have  "been  placed,  the  habit  of  feeling  you  have  acquired 
is  not  like  that  of  other  people  " ;  but  she  adds,  "  of  all  those  whom  I  knew  in 
childhood  or  youth  you  are  the  only  one  who  has  retained  any  likeness  to 
myself ;  and  you  are  so  like  that  I  wonder  how  it  is  possible  that  you  can  bo 
so  differeat." 


1795.] 


INTERVAL  AT  BURY. 


21 


one  practical  effect  of  Godwin's  book  was  to  make  me  less  in- 
clined to  follow  the  law,  or  any  other  profession  as  a  means  of 
livelihood.  I  determined  to  practise  habits  of  rigid  economy, 
and  then  I  thought  my  small  income  would  suffice  with  such 
additions  as  might  be  gained  by  literature. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year  I  was  led  to  take  a  part  in  pub- 
lic matters,  and  from  its  being  the  first  act  of  the  kind,  I  may 
here  relate  it.  In  consequence  of  Kyd  Wake's  *  attack  upon 
the  King,  two  Acts  were  introduced,  called  the  Pitt  and  Gren- 
ville  Acts  for  better  securing  the  King's  person.  They  were 
deemed  an  infringement  on  the  Constitution,  and  in  every  part 
of  the  kingdom  petitions  were  prepared  against  them  and  pub- 
lic meetings  held.  The  drawing  up  of  the  petition  and  ob- 
taining signatures  at  Bury  were  intrusted  to  Walter  Wright 
and  myself  I  was  very  active,  but  nevertheless  impartial 
enough  to  see  all  that  was  foolish  in  the  business,  and  it  is  a 
^  satisfaction  to  me  to  recollect  the  great  glee  with  which  I  read 
Johnson's  admirable  satirical  account  of  a  petition  in  his 
False  Alarm."  I  have  pleasure  also  in  remembering  that 
even  while  I  was  a  partisan  of  the  French  Revolution  I  was  an 
admirer  of  Burke,  not  merely  for  his  eloquence,  but  also  for 
his  philosophy.  It  was  after  the  Bury  petition  had  been  pre- 
pared that  a  county  meeting  was  held  at  Stowmarket.  Mr. 
Grigby  was  in  the  chair ;  the  Whig  Baronets  Sir  W.  Middleton 
and  Sir  W.  Rowley  attended  ;  but  the  hero  of  the  day  was 
Capel  Lofft.  He  spoke  at  great  length,  and  as  I  thought,  very 
admirably.  His  voice  was  sweet,  though  feeble.  He  was  the 
only  orator  I  had  heard  except  at  the  bar  and  in  the  pulpit. 
The  Whig  gentry  became  impatient  and  at  length  retired,  but 
by  way  of  compromise,  after  Mr.  Lofft's  resolutions  had  been 
passed,  the  Bury  petition  was  clamorously  called  for.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  proceedings,  I  got  upon  the  wagon  and  was 
endeavoring  to  prompt  Mr.  Lofft  to  move  a  vote  of  thanks, 
when  he  suddenly  introduced  me  to  the  meeting,  as  one  to 
whom  the  county  was  greatly  indebted  as  the  author  of  the 
petition.  This  little  incident  served  as  a  sort  of  precocious 
introduction  to  public  life. 

*  Kyd  Wake,  a  journeyman  printer,  was  convicted  for  insulting  the  King  in 
his  state  carriage,  and  sentenced  to  stand  an  hour  in  the  pillory  each  day  for 
three  months  and  to  be  imprisoned  for  five  years.    The  "Treason"  and 
Sedition"  Bills  were  laid  before  Parliament  November  6  and  November  10, 
1795. 

See  Stanhope's  "  Life  of  William  Pitt,"  Vol.  II.  p.  358. 


22       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENEY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


1796-1800.   UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 

N  the  20th  of  April  I  went  to  London  with  the  intention 


of  entering  an  attorney's  office  in  order  to  qualify  my- 
self for  practice.  This  step  was  taken,  not  on  account  of  my 
having  less  dislike  to  the  law  as  a  profession,  but  because 
friends  urged  me,  and  because  I  was  unwilling  to  remain  idle 
any  longer.  My  lodgings  were  of  a  simple  kind,  in  Drury 
Lane,  and  my  expenses  not  more  than  about  a  guinea  a  week ; 
but  a  first  residence  in  London  cannot  be  otherwise  than  a 
kind  of  epoch  in  life. 

Among  the  new  acquaintance  which  I  formed  there  is  one 
of  whom  I  was  proud,  and  to  whom  I  feel  considerable  obliga- 
tion, —  John  Towill  Rutt.  He  was  the  son  of  an  affluent  drug- 
grinder,  and  might  possibly  have  himself  died  rich  if  he  had 
not  been  a  man  of  too  much  literary  taste,  public  spirit,  and 
religious  zeal  to  be  able  to  devote  his  best  energies  to  business. 
He  was  brought  up  an  orthodox  dissenter,  and  married  into  a 
family  of  like  sentiments.  His  wife  was  an  elder  sister  of  Mrs. 
Thomas  Isaac,  daughter  of  Mr.  Pattisson  of  Maldon  and  first 
cousin  of  my  friend  William  Pattisson.  I  was  therefore  doubly 
introduced  to  him.  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  please  him,  and 
he  became  my  chief  friend.  He  had  become  a  Unitarian,  and 
was  a  leading  member  of  the  Gravel  Pit  congregation.  Hack- 
ney, of  which  Belsham  was  the  pastor.  Mr.  Rutt  was  the 
friend  and  biographer  of  Gilbert  Wakefield  and  of  Priestley. 
He  also  edited  the  entire  works  of  the  latter.  He  was  proud 
of  having  been,  with  Lord  Grey,  an  original  member  of  the 
Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People.  The  eldest  daughter  of 
his  large  family  is  the  widow  of  the  late  Sir  T.  N.  Talfourd. 

My  days  were  spent  in  attending  the  courts  with  very  little 
profit.  I  heard  Erskine  frequently,  and  my  admiration  of  him 
was  confirmed ;  but  I  acquired  no  fresh  impression  concerning 
him. 

I  tried  to  procure  a  suitable  situation  but  without  success ; 
and  this,  with  an  almost  morbid  feeling  of  my  own  ignorance, 
made  me  more  unhappy  than  I  had  been  before,  or  ever  was 
afterwards.     Thus  discouraged,  I  returned  to  Bury  in  the 


1796.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


23 


summer.  My  brother's  marriage,  which  took  place  soon  after- 
wards, was  the  cause  of  my  being  introduced  to  an  entirely 
new  connection,  —  the  Fordhams  and  Nashes  of  Royston.  The 
most  prominent  of  the  former  for  w^ealth  and  personal  charac- 
ter was  Edward  King  Fordham,  a  remarkable  man,  who  re- 
tained his  bodily  and  mental  vigor  to  a  great  age.  Of  all 
these  new  friends  the  one  to  whom  I  became  most  indebted 
w^as  Mr.  William  Nash,  an  eminent  solicitor  and  a  first-rate 
character  in  the  sphere  in  which  he  moved.  Both  of  these 
families  were  liberal  in  religious  opinion  and  zealous  for  polit- 
ical reform.  There  had  been  established  at  Royston  a  book- 
club, and  twice  a  year  the  members  of  it  were  invited  to  a  tea- 
party  at  the  largest  room  the  little  town  supplied,  and  a  reg- 
ular debate  was  held.  In  former  times  this  debate  had  been 
honored  by  the  participation  of  no  less  a  man  than  Robert 
^  Hall.  My  friend  J.  T.  Rutt  and  Benjamin  Flower,  the  ultra- 
liberal  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  Cambridge  Intelligencer,  had 
also  taken  part.  To  one  of  these  meetings  my  brother  was 
invited  and  I  as  a  sort  of  satellite  to  him.  There  was  a  com- 
pany of  forty-four  gentlemen  and  forty-two  ladies.  The  ques- 
tion discussed  was,  "Is  private  affection  inconsistent  with 
universal  benevolence  ]  Not  a  disputable  point,  but  it  was 
meant  to  involve  the  merits  of  Godwin  as  a  philosopher,  and 
as  I  had  thought,  or  rather  talked  much  about  him,  I  had  an 
advantage  over  most  of  those  who  were  present.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  what  I  said  was,  in  truth,  poor  stuff,  but  I  was  very 
young,  had  great  vivacity  and  an  abundance  of  words.  Among 
the  speakers  were  Benjamin  Flower,  Mr.  Rutt,  and  four  or  five 
ministers  of  the  best  reputation  in  the  place  ;  yet  I  obtained 
credit,  and  the  solid  benefit  of  the  good  opinion  and  kindness 
of  Mr.  Nash.  He  was  told  of  my  unsettled  state  and  my  want 
of  an  introduction  in  London.  He  did  not  offer  to  be  of  any 
practical  use,  perhaps  had  not  the  means,  but  his  advice  was 
emphatically  given  in  the  words,  Fag,  fag,  fag."  By  laborious 
fagging  he  had  raised  himself  to  wealth  and  distinction. 

On  my  return  to  my  old  London  quarters  in  October  I  en- 
tered a  solicitor's  office  on  the  condition  of  nothing  being  paid 
on  either  side.  This  was  Mr.  White's  office  in  Chancery  Lane. 
My  occupation  was  almost  entirely  mechanical,  and  therefore 
of  no  great  advantage  to  me.  My  leisure  was  devoted  partly 
to  legal  and  miscellaneous  reading,  from  which  I  derived  little 
profit,  and  partly  to  attending  debating  societies,  which  af- 
forded me  practice  in  public  speaking,  and  thus  materially 


24      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


contributed  to  my  moderate  success  in  life.  At  the  meet- 
ings of  one  of  these  societies  I  frequently  had,  as  an  adver- 
sary, John  Gale  Jones.  At  those  of  another,  to  which  Mr. 
Rutt  introduced  me,  and  which  was  presided  over  by  Belsham, 
I  formed  a  lifelong  friendship  with  Mr.  Anthony  Robinson, 
whose  powers  of  conversation  were  far  greater  than  those  of 
any  other  of  my  acquaintance. 

1797. 

The  Servile  Year. 

I  have  spent  several  days  in  deciphering  a  short-hand 
journal,  and  looking  over  a  collection  of  letters  belonging  to 
this  year ;  an  employment  that  must  have  humiliated  me,  if 
after  half  a  century  it  were  possible  to  have  a  strong  sense  of 
personal  identity.  Thus  much  I  must  say,  that  if  "  the  child  " 
(in  this  instance  the  youth)  be  "  father  of  the  man,"  I  must 
plead  guilty  to  the  impiety  of  despising  my  parent. 

How  long  I  should  have  gone  on  in  my  mechanical  work 
there  is  no  guessing,  had  not  an  accident  relieved  me. 

There  came  to  the  office  one  day  a  clerk  who  was  going  to 
leave  his  situation  at  Mr.  Hoper's  (Boyle  Street,  Saville  Row), 
and  he  advised  me  to  apply  for  it,  which  I  did,  and  was  ac- 
cepted as  a  conveyancing  clerk  at  a  guinea  a  week.  I  went 
on  the  5th  of  April.  At  the  end  of  three  weeks,  however, 
my  employer  told  me  he  should  no  longer  need  my  services, 
but  had  recommended  me  to  a  better  place  than  his.  This 
was  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Joseph  Hill,  of  Saville  Row,  with 
whom  I  remained  from  the  28tli  of  April  till  my  uncle's  death 
at  the  close  of  the  year.  Mr.  HilFs  name  appears  in  the  Life 
of  Cowper,  whose  particular  friend  he  was.  He  had  no  general 
law  practice,  but  was  steward  to  several  noblemen.  All  I  had 
to  do  was  to  copy  letters,  make  schedules  of  deeds,  and  keep 
accounts.  My  service  was  light  but  by  no  means  favorable  to 
my  advancement  in  legal  knowledge.  I  attended  from  half 
past  nine  or  ten  till  five,  and  had  therefore  leisure  for  reading. 
The  treatment  I  received  was  kind,  though  I  was  kept  at  a 
distance.  Mr.  Hill  seemed  to  have  an  interest  in  my  welfare, 
and  gave  me  good  counsel.  He  had  a  country-house  at  War- 
grave,  on  the  Thames,  and  was  frequently  absent  for  weeks 
together  in  the  summer.  When  he  was  in  London  he  sent 
me  very  nice  meat  luncheons,  which  usually  served  me  for 
dinner.    On  the  whole  I  was  not  at  all  uncomfortable,  and 


1797.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


25 


should  have  been  even  happy  if  1  could  have  kept  out  of  my 
thoughts  the  consideration  that  I  was,  after  all,  it  was  to  be 
hoped,  fit  for  something  better  than  to  be  a  writing-clerk  at  a 
guinea  a  week. 

On  going  to  Mr.  Hoper's  I  removed  from  Drury  Lane  to 
small  and  neat  rooms  on  the  second  floor  at  20  Sherrard 
Street.  One  of  my  principal  amusements  was  the  theatre. 
I  had  great  pleasure  in  the  acting  of  Mrs.  Jordan  and  others, 
but  my  admiration  for  Mrs.  Siddons  was  boundless.  One  lit- 
tle anecdote  concerning  her  eff*ect  upon  me  has  been  printed  in 
Campbell's  life  of  her.  I  had  told  it  to  Charles  Young,  and 
he  thought  he  was  at  liberty  to  repeat  it  for  publication. 

The  play  was  "  Fatal  Curiosity,"  acted  for  her  benefit.  In 
the  scene  in  which  her  son  having  put  into  her  hands  a  casket 
to  keep,  and  she  having  touched  a  spring  it  opens  and  she 
sees  jewels,  her  husband  (Kemble)  enters,  and  in  despair  ex- 
-  claims,  "  Where  shall  we  get  bread  1 "  With  her  eyes  fixed 
on  the  jewels,  she  runs  to  him,  knocks  the  casket  against  her 
breast,  and  exclaims,  Here  !  Here  !  In  Mrs.  Siddons's  tone 
and  in  her  look  there  was  an  anticipation  of  the  murder  which 
was  to  take  place.  I  burst  out  into  a  loud  laugh,  which  occa- 
sioned a  cry  of  Turn  him  out !  "  This  cry  frightened  me, 
but  I  could  not  refrain.  A  good-natured  woman  near  me 
called  out,  Poor  young  man,  he  cannot  help  it."  She  gave 
me  a  smelling-bottle,  which  restored  me,  but  I  was  quite 
shaken,  and  could  not  relish  the  little  comedy  of  The  Deuce 
is  in  him,"  though  Mrs.  Siddons  played  in  it.  I  thought  her 
humor  forced,  and  every  expression  overdone.  By  the  by, 
the  title  of  the  piece  may  have  been  "Diamond  cut  Dia- 
mond." It  is  the  only  piece  in  which  I  did  not  admire  Mrs. 
Siddons. 

The  Forums  were  a  source  of  great  enjoyment  to  me.  They 
exercised  my  mind,  and  whatever  faculty  of  public  speaking  I 
afterwards  possessed  I  acquired  at  these  places.  If  the  at- 
tention my  speeches  received  from  others  may  be  regarded  as 
a  criterion,  my  progress  seems  to  have  been  very  considerable. 
In  general  the  speakers  were  not  men  of  culture  or  refine- 
ment. There  was  one,  however,  of  extreme  liberal  opinions, 
who  was  distinguished  from  all  others  by  an  aristocratic  air. 
His  voice  was  weak  but  pleasing,  and  his  tone  that  of  a  high- 
bred gentleman.  Some  compliments  paid  me  by  him  were 
particularly  acceptable.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  wife, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  I  had  ever  seen.    On  one 

VOL.  I.  2 


26       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


occasion  I  chanced  to  sit  next  to  her  and  a  very  lively  and 
agreeable  lady  who  accompanied  her.  No  gentleman  was 
with  them.  She  asked  me  whether  I  did  not  know  Hardy 
the  patriot ;  and  as  she  seemed  to  know  me,  I  ventured  to 
offer  my  services  in  procuring  them  a  carriage.  But  none 
was  to  be  had,  and  so  I  saw  them  safely  home.  In  a  few  days 
I  had  a  call  from  her  husband,  Mr.  Collier,  to  thank  me  for 
my  attention.  Thus  began  an  acquaintance,  which  lasted 
through  life,  and  was  to  me  of  inestimable  value.  The  Col- 
liers passed  through  great  changes  of  fortune,  but  if  I  had  it 
in  my  power  to  render  them  any  service  or  kindness  I  have 
always  felt  it  to  be  very  far  below  what  they  rendered  to  me. 
Perhaps  they  thought  otherwise,  —  it  is  well  when  persons 
can  so  estimate  their  relation  to  each  other. 

In  some  money  transactions  that  passed  between  Mr.  C. 
and  me,  the  only  dispute  we  ever  had  was  that  each  wished 
to  give  the  other  some  advantage  which  he  would  not  take. 
The  eldest  son,  John  Payne  Collier,  the  editor  of  Shakespeare, 
is  now  one  of  my  most  respected  friends.  The  parents  have 
long  been  dead. 

At  the  Westminster  Forum  late  in  the  year  I  made  a  suc- 
cessful speech  on  the  French  Revolution,  and  among  those 
present  was  one  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  Bury, 
Gamaliel  Lloyd,  a  gentleman  of  fortune,  —  a  Whig  of  the  old 
school,  a  friend  of  Cartwright  and  Wyvill  as  well  as  Capel 
Lofft.  I  knew  him  merely  by  meeting  him  at  the  Bury 
Library.  He  complimented  me  on  this  occasion,  and  an  in- 
vitation to  his  lodgings  was  the  origin  of  an  acquaintance  of 
which  I  was  proud.  He  w^as  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Yorkshire 
gentry.  He  has  long  been  dead,  leaving  as  his  present  repre- 
sentative William  Horton  Lloyd,  a  most  respectable  man. 
Leonard  Horner  is  the  husband  of  G.  L.'s  second  daughter. 
One  of  her  daughters  will  probably  be  hereafter  Lady  Bun- 
bury  ;  another  is  married  to  Sir  Charles  Lyell. 

My  old  friend  Pattisson  lodged  in  Carey  Street.  We  saw 
each  other  daily,  and  in  order  to  avoid  missing  each  other  we 
agreed  always  to  pass  through  certain  streets  between  our  two 
abodes.  I  recollect  with  tenderness  how  many  hours  of  com- 
fort and  enjoyment  I  owed  to  his  companionship.  At  his 
apartments  I  became  acquainted  with  Richard  Taylor,  the 
eminent  printer  and  common-council  man. 


1798.] 


UNSI5TTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


27 


1798. 

On  the  first  of  January  in  this  year  I  received  the  news  of 
the  death  of  my  uncle  Eobinson.  He  was  good-natured  and 
liberal,  and  richer  than  any  other  relation.  His  property  was 
left  to  my  brothers  and  myself.  I  soon  ascertained  that  I 
should  have  about  a  hundred  pounds  per  annum.  A  very 
poor  income  for  a  student  aspiring  to  the  bar ;  a  comfortable 
independence  to  fall  back  upon  for  one  content  to  live  humbly 
as  a  literary  man.  Between  a  legal  and  a  literary  occupation 
I  was  unable  at  once  to  determine.  All  I  resolved  on  for  the 
present  was  to  quit  Mr.  Hill.  With  him  I  was  idling  away 
my  time  and  learning  nothing.  I  remained  with  him  till  the 
5th  of  March,  when  he  was  able  to  procure  a  successor.  He 
dismissed  me  with  good  advice,  counselling  me  to  lead  a  life 
of  business,  and  warning  me  against  indulging  in  habits  of 
speculation.  This  he  said  in  a-  parental  way.  I  met  him 
afterwards  in  the  streets,  but  was  never  recognized  by  him. 

On  the  6th  of  May  I  went  down  to  Bury  and  did  not  re- 
turn till  October.  In  the  interval  I  made  a  visit  to  Norwich 
and  Yarmouth.  At  the  latter  place  I  stayed  four  weeks.  My 
main  inducement  was  to  read  to  Harley,  a  blind  man  I  became 
acquainted  with  through  Miss  Maling.  An  interesting  man  in 
humble  circumstances.  At  Yarmouth  also  I  fell  in  with 
two  young  men  about  to  go  to  Germany  to  study.  One  after- 
wards became  famous,  Captain  Parry,  the  traveller  and  dis- 
coverer in  the  Polar  regions. 

But  the  most  eventful  occurrence  of  the  year  was  an  intro- 
duction to  William  Taylor  of  Norwich,  who  encouraged  in  me 
a  growing  taste  for  German  literature. 

I  had  already  thought  of  a  visit  to  Germany,  and  my  de- 
sire to  go  was  very  much  strengthened.  But  it  proceeded  chiefly 
from  dissatisfaction  with  my  present  pursuits,  and  from  a 
vague  wish  to  be  where  I  was  not. 

What  I  have  written  about  my  general  occupations  in  1797 
is  applicable  to  a  large  part  of  this  year.  I  went  on  reading 
in  a  desultory  way.  Books  were  oddly  jumbled  together  in 
my  brain.    I  took  a  few  lessons  in  German. 

In  my  visit  to  Bury  I  found  I  had  already  acquired  a  bad 
character  for  free  thinking.  This  led  to  a  correspondence  be- 
tween the  famous  Robt.  Hall  and  me.  I  heard  that  he  had 
told  Mr.  Nash  it  was  disgraceful  to  him  as  a  Christian  to  ad- 
mit me  into  his  house.    I  remonstrated  with  Mr.  Hall  for  this 


28      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


officious  interference,  and  asked  him  why  he  had  defamed  me. 
He  answered  me  in  a  letter  which  I  have  preserved  as  a 
curiosity.  It  is  an  excellent  letter  of  the  kind.  He  said  he 
believed  me  to  be  a  professor  of  infidelity,  of  pantheism,  and 
therefore  as  became  him  he  warned  a  Christian  brother  of  the 
peril  of  intercourse  with  me.  On  his  own  principles  he  was 
right.  My  letter  I  have  also  preserved.  It  is  as  ill  as  his  is 
well  written. 

To  THE  Eev.  E.  Hall. 

Yarmouth,  30th  August,  1798. 
Sir,  —  Your  own  good  sense  will  suggest  every  apology 
necessary  for  troubling  you  with  this  unpleasant  letter.  Un- 
pleasant it  certainly  is  for  me  to  write,  and  it  will  be  more  or 
less  so  for  you  to  receive,  as  your  recollection  may  echo  the 
observations  I  have  to  make.  I  am  informed  that  you  have 
of  late  distinguished  yourself  by  displaying  much  zeal  against 
certain  very  prevalent  speculative  opinions.  And  I  am  also 
told  that  in  connection  with  such  subjects  you  have  thought 
proper  frequently  and  generally  to  introduce  my  name  and 
character.  Recollecting  probably  the  great  secret  of  poetry, 
where  beauty  and  effect  consist  in  the  lively  representation  of 
individual  objects,  you  have,  it  seems,  found  it  convenient  to 
point  the  sting  of  your  denunciation  by  setting  the  mark  of 
censure  and  reprobation  on  my  forehead.  I  hear  too  that  you 
have  travelled  amongst  my  friends  in  a  neighboring  county, 
urging  them  no  longer  to  honor  me  with  their  friendship,  and 
declaring  it  to  be  a  disgrace  to  them  to  admit  me  into  their 
houses.  I  will  name  but  one  person,  and  that  a  gentleman 
for  whom  I  feel  the  warmest  sensations  of  esteem  and  love ; 
and  the  loss  of  whose  good  opinion  I  should  consider  as  a  very 
serious  privation,  Mr.  Nash,  of  Eoyston.  And  this  style  I 
understand  you  scruple  not  to  hold  in  large  and  mixed  com- 
panies, where  I  am  of  course  unknown,  aiid  where  only,  I  flat- 
ter myself,  your  labors  could  be  successful.  Indeed,  sir,  I  as 
little  deserve  the  honor  of  such  notice  from  you  as  I  do  the 
disgrace  of  so  much  obloquy.  But  not  having  so  much  of  the 
childish  vanity  of  being  talked  about,  as  of  the  honorable  de- 
sire to  be  esteemed  by  the  truly  respectable,  I  am  compelled 
to  remonstrate  with  you,  and  call  upon  you  for  some  reason 
why  you  have  thus  made  an  attack,  in  its  possible  conse- 
quences incalculably  injurious  to  the  reputation  of  a  young 
man,  who  is  an  entire  stranger  to  you.    Were  I  addressing  a 


1798.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


29 


man  of  the  world,  I  know  that  what  I  have  written  is  vague 
enough  to  allow  room  for  evasion  and  prevarication,  for  a 
denial  of  having  used  tjie  precise  terms  stated,  and  for  a  de- 
mand of  my  authors.  But  I  recollect  that  you  have  adopted 
a  profession  of  high  pretensions,  and  that  it  is  probable  you 
will  excuse  yourself  on  the  ground  of  performing  a  religious 
duty.  As  such  you  cannot  scruple  to  inform  me  what  more 
and  worse  things  you  have  said,  —  particularly  what  opinions 
they  are  which  excite  so  much  anger,  and  what  authority  yoa 
have  for  imputing  them  to  me.  I  do  not  accuse  you  of  per- 
sonal malignity,  but  I  charge  you  with  wantonly  casting 
arrows  and  death.  And  it  matters  not  to  the  sufferer  whether 
sport  or  false  zeal  direct  the  aim.  I  do  not  think  you  capable 
of  inventing  calumny ;  but  it  seems  that  you  have  heedlessly 
built  opinions  on  vague  report,  drawn  unwarrantable  inferences 
from  general  appellations,  and  carelessly  trifled  with  the  hap- 
piness of  others  as  objects  below  your  regard.  Constitutional- 
ly enthusiastic,  I  have  warmly  expressed,  perhaps  without 
enow  limitations,  my  high  admiration  of  the  Political  Justice." 
Hence,  I  suspect,  all  the  misapprehension.  I  was  told  by  a 
gentleman  who  knows  you  well,  that  so  inveterate  was  your 
rage  against  Mr.  Godwin,  that  when  any  incident  of  unnatural 
depravity  or  abandoned  profligacy  was  cnentioned,  your  excla- 
mation has  been,  ^'I  could  not  have  supposed  any  man  capable 
of  such  an  action,  except  Godwin."  Excuse  me  when  I  add, 
that  had  this  been  told  me  of  a  stranger,  I  should  have  felt 
great  contempt  for  him.  I  could  not  despise  Mr.  Hall ;  and 
therefore  it  only  added  one  more  to  the  list  of  examples  which 
prove  a  most  important  truth,  that  the  possession  of  the  great- 
est talents  is  no  security  against  the  grossest  absurdities  and 
weaknesses.  I  do  not  choose  to  consider  this  as  an  exculpatory 
letter,  and  therefore  I  will  not  state  why  I  admire  the  "  Politi- 
cal Justice  but  as  I  understand  that  the  sprinkling  I  have 
felt  is  but  a  spray  of  the  torrent  cast  on  poor  Godwin,  it  is  hardly 
irrelevant  for  me  to  remark,  that  such  intemperate  abuse  will 
be  received  by  some  with  stupid  and  vulgar  applause,  and  by 
others  with  pity  and  regret.  I  am  anxious  you  should  not 
mistake  me.  I  believe  your  motives,  so  far  as  you  could  be 
conscious  of  them,  were  good  ;  that  zeal  (always  respectable 
wha^ver  be  its  object)  alone  impelled  you  ;  but  I  fear  that, 
like  most  zealots,  your  views  were  confined  and  partial,  and 
that,  eager  to  do  your  duty  towards  your  God,  you  forgot  what 
you  owQd  to  your  neighbor ;  that  your  imagination,  forcibly 


30       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


excited  by  passion,  waited  not  for  the  dull  inquiry,  the  tedious 
discrimination  of  your  judgment ;  and  that  you  reasoned  ab- 
surdly, because  you  felt  passionately.  K  is  a  Godwinite  — 
therefore  an  atheist  —  therefore  incapable  of  virtuous  habits 
or  benevolent  feelings  —  therefore  disposed  only  to  commit 
crimes  and  make  proselytes  —  therefore  I  ought  to  use  my 
appropriate  weapons  of  excommunication  by  exciting  against 
him  both  his  friends  and  strangers,  and  deprive  him  of  all 
power  to  do  injury  by  blasting  his  reputation,  and  making  him 
an  object  of  hatred  and  contempt.  Thus,  by  the  ruin  of  one, 
I  shall  save  many.  Something  of  this  kind,  though  certainly 
short  of  its  extent,  has  probably  influenced  you.  However, 
giving  you  credit  for  integrity  and  benevolence,  of  which  I 
shall  be  better  able  to  judge  hereafter,  I  remain,  without  en- 
mity, and  with  respect  for  your  general  character, 
Yours,  (fee, 

H.  C.  R. 

To  Mr.  Henry  Eobinson. 

October  13,  1798.  Cambridge. 

Sir,  —  That  I  have  not  paid  to  your  frank  and  manly  letter 
the  prompt  and  respectful  attention  it  deserved,  my^  only 
apology  is  a  variety  of,  perplexing  incidents  which  have  left 
me  till  now  little  leisure  or  spirits. 

Before  I  proceed  to  justify  my  conduct,  I  will  state  to  you 
very  briefly  the  information  on  which  it  was  founded,  not 
doubting  that  where  I  may  seem  to  usurp  the  ofiice  of  a  cen- 
sor you  will  attribute  it  to  the  necessity  of  self-defence. 

I  have  been  led  to  believe  you  make  no  scruple  on  all  occa- 
sions to  avow  your  religious  scepticism,  that  you  have  publicly 
professed  your  high  admiration  of  the  "  Political  Justice,"  even 
to  the  length  of  declaring,  I  believe  at  the  Eoyston  Book  Club, 
that  no  man  ever  understood  the  nature  of  virtue  so  well  as 
Mr.  Godwin;  from  which  I  have  drawn  the  following  infer- 
ence, either  that  you  disbelieve  the  being  of  God  and  a  fu- 
ture state,  or  that  admitting  them  to  be  true,  in  your  opin- 
ion they  have  no  connection  with  the  nature  of  virtue  ;  the 
first  of  which  is  direct  and  avowed,  the  second  practical  athe- 
ism. For  whether  there  be  a  God  is  merely  a  question  of  cu- 
rious speculation,  unless  the  belief  in  him  be  allowed  to  dft-ect 
and  enforce  the  practice  of  virtue.  The  theopathetic  affections, 
such  as  love,  reverence,  resignation,  &c.,  form  in  the  estima- 
tion of  all  theists  a  very  sublime  and  important  class  of  vir- 


1798.] 


UKSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


31 


tues.  Mr.  Godwin  as  a  professed  atheist  is  very  consistent  in 
excluding  them  from  his  catalogue ;  but  how  he  who  does  so 
can  be  allowed  best  to  understand  the  nature  of  virtue,  by 
any  man  who  is  not  himself  an  atheist,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  con- 
ceive. 

A  person  of  undoubted  veracity  assured  me  that  on  being 
gently  reprimanded  by  a  lady  for  taking  the  name  of  God  in 
vain  in  a  certain  company,  you  apologized  by  exhibiting  such 
an  idea  of  God  as  appeared  to  him  to  coincide  with  the  system 
of  Spinoza,  in  which  everything  is  God,  and  God  is  everything. 
Since  the  receipt  of  your  letter  I  applied  to  this  gentleman, 
who  confirms  his  first  information,  but  is  concerned  at  having 
mentioned  the  circumstance,  as  it  might  be  construed  into  an 
abuse  of  the  confidence  of  private  conversation.  You  will 
oblige  me  by  not  compelling  me  to  give  up  his  name.  Of  this 
you  may  rest  satisfied,  he  will  make  no  ungenerous  use  of  this 
incident,  and  that  his  character  is  at  the  utmost  removed  from 
that  of  a  calumniator.  He  will  not  afiirm  the  sentiments 
you  uttered  were  serious ;  they  might  be  a  casual  efibrt  of 
sportive  ingenuity,  but  their  coincidence  with  other  circum- 
stances before  mentioned  strengthened  my  former  impres- 
sions. 

More  recently  I  have  been  told  your  chief  objection  to  the 
system  of  Godwin  is  an  apprehension  of  its  being  too  delicate 
and  refined  for  the  present  corrupt  state  of  society ;  which 
from  a  person  of  your  acknowledged  good  sense  surprised  me 
much,  because  the  most  striking  and  original  part  of  his  sys- 
tem, that  to  which  he  ascends,  through  the  intermediate  stages, 
as  the  highest  point  of  perfection,  —  the  promiscuous  inter- 
course of  the  sexes,  —  has  been  uniformly  acted  upon  by  all 
four-footed  creatures  from  the  beginning  of  the  world. 

In  another  particular  I  am  sincerely  glad  to  find  myself  mis- 
taken. From  a  late  conversation  with  Mr.  Ebenezer  Foster,  I 
was  induced  to  suppose  you  had  been  at  pains  to  infuse  into 
his  mind  atheistical  doubts.  I  retract  this  opinion  with  pleas- 
ure as  founded  on  misapprehension.  Having  no  reason  to 
doubt  of  your  honor,  your  disavowal  of  any  opinion  will  be 
perfectly  satisfactory.  I  will  repeat  that  disavowal  to  any 
person  whom  I  may  have  unintentionally  misled. 

In  exonerating  me  from  the  suspicion  of  being  actuated  by 
personal  malignity,  you  have  done  me  justice  ;  but  you  have 
formed  an  exaggerated  idea  of  those  circumstances  in  my  con- 
duct which  wear  the  appearance  of  hostility.    Your  moral 


32       BEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 

character  has  been  unimpeached.  I  have  neither  invented  nor 
circulated  slander.  On  the  contrary,  when  I  have  expressed 
myself  with  the  greatest  freedom,  I  have  been  careful  to  pre- 
mise that  I  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  you,  that  your 
manners  might  for  anything  I  knew  be  correct,  and  that  all 
the  censure  attached  or  fear  expressed  was  confined  to  the  li- 
centious opinions  I  understood  you  to  embrace.  I  have  never 
travelled  a  mile  on  your  account.  My  efforts  have  been  con- 
fined to  an  attempt  within  a  very  limited  circle  (for  it  is  in  a 
very  limited  circle  I  move)  to  warn  some  young  people  against 
forming  a  close  intimacy  with  a  person  who  by  the  possession 
of  the  most  captivating  talents  was  likely  to  give  circulation 
and  effect  to  the  most  dangerous  errors.  As  you  alhide  to  a 
conversation  with  Mr.  Nash  (whom  in  common  with  you  I 
highly  esteem),  I  will  relate  it  to  you  as  nearly  as  my  recol- 
lection will  serve.  After  a  sort  of  desultory  debate  on  heresy  and 
scepticism,  he  told  me  he  designed  at  your  next  visit  to  Roys- 
ton  to  request  you  to  make  his  house  your  home.  Warmed 
in  a  degree,  though  not  irritated  by  the  preceding  dispute,  I 
replied  it  was  all  very  proper  considering  him  as  a  man  of  the 
world,  but  considering  him  as  a  Christian  it  was  very  unprin- 
cipled, —  an  expression  of  greater  asperity,  I  will  allow,  than 
either  politeness  to  him  or  delicacy  to  you  will  perfectly  justi- 
fy. I  conceived  myself  at  liberty  to  express  my  sentiments 
the  more  freely  to  Mr.  Nash  because  he  is  a  member  and  an 
officer  in  our  Church. 

I  have  ventured  repeatedly  to  express  my  apprehension  of 
baneful  consequences  arising  from  your  attendance  at  the 
book  club,  where  if  your  principles  be  such  as  I  have  supposed, 
you  have  a  signal  opportunity,  from  the  concourse  of  young 
people  assembled,  of  extending  the  triumj)h  of  the  new  phi- 
losophy. 

Such,  as  far  as  my  recollection  reaches,  is  the  faithful  sketch 
of  those  parts  of  my  conduct  which  have  provoked  your  dis- 
pleasure. 

To  make  an  attack  in  its  possible  consequences  incalculably 
injurious,  to  seek  the  salvation  of  others  by  your  ruin,  are 
the  gigantic  efforts  of  a  powerful  malignity,  equally  remote 
from  my  inclination  and  ability.  The  rapid  increase  of  irre- 
ligion  among  the  polite  and  fashionable,  and  descending  of 
late  to  the  lower  classes,  has  placed  serious  believers  so  entire- 
ly on  the  defensive,  that  they  will  think  themselves  happy  if 
they  can  be  secure  from  contempt  and  insult. 


1798.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


33 


How  far  a  regard  to  speculative  opinion  ought  to  regulate  the 
choice  of  our  friendships  is  a  delicate  question  never  likely  to 
be  adjusted  harmoniously  by  two  persons  who  think  so  differ- 
ently of  the  importance  of  truth  and  the  mischief  of  error. 
Principles  of  irreligion,  recommended  by  brilliant  and  seduc- 
tive talents,  appear  to  me  more  dangerous  in  the  intercourse  of 
private  life  than  licentious  manners. 

Vice  is  a  downcast,  self-accusing  culprit ;  error  often  assumes 
an  appearance  which  captivates  and  dazzles.  The  errors  —  or 
rather  the  atrocious  speculations  —  of  Godwin's  system  are  big 
with  incalculable  mischief  They  confound  all  the  duties  and 
perplex  all  the  relations  of  human  life  :  they  innovate  in  the 
very  substance  of  virtue,  about  which  philosophers  of  all  sects 
have  been  nearly  agreed.  They  render  vice  systematic  and  con- 
certed ;  and  by  freeing  the  conscience  from  every  restraint,  and 
teaching  men  to  mock  at  futurity,  they  cut  off  from  the  crimi- 
nal and  misguided  the  very  possibility  of  retreat.  Atheism  in 
every  form  I  abhor,  but  even  atheism  has  received  from  Godwin 
new  degrees  of  deformity,  and  wears  a  more  wild  and  savage 
aspect.  I  am  firmly  of  opinion  the  avowal  of  such  a  system, 
.accompanied  with  an  attempt  to  proselyte,  ought  not  to  be  tol- 
erated in  the  state,  much  less  be  permitted  to  enter  the  recess- 
es of  private  life,  to  pollute  the  springs  of  domestic  happiness 
or  taint  the  purity  of  confidential  intercourse.  For  the  first  of 
these  sentiments,  Mr.  Godwin's  disciples  will  doubtless  regard 
me  with  ineffable  contempt ;  a  contempt  which  I  am  prepared 
to  encounter,  shielded  by  the  authority  of  all  pagan  antiquity, 
as  well  as  by  the  decided  support  of  Mr.  Locke,  the  first  of 
Christian  philosophers  and  political  reasoners. 

I  appeal  to  a  still  higher  authority  for  the  last,  to  those 
Scriptures  which  as  a  Christian  minister  I  am  solemnly 
pledged  not  only  to  explain  and  inculcate,  but  to  take  for 
the  standards  of  my  own  faith  and  practice. 

The  Scriptures  forbid  the  disciples  of  Christ  to  form  any  near 
relation,  any  intimate  bond  of  union,  with  professed  infidels. 
"  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  together  with  unhelievers ;  for 
what  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  unrighteousness,  and 
what  communion  hath  light  with  darkness,  and  what  concord 
hath  Christ  with  Belial,  and  what  part  hath  he  that  helieveth 
with  an  infidel  ?  Wherefore  come  out  from  amongst  them 
and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord."  If  it  be  urged  that  this 
precept  primarily  respects  the  case  of  marriage  with  an  infidel, 
it  is  obvious  to  reply  that  the  reason  of  marriage  with  such 
2=^  C 


34       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


persons  being  prohibited  is  the  intimate  friendship  which  such 
union  impUes. 

I  am,  sir, 

Your  humble  servant, 

E.  Hall. 

1799. 

When  I  became  a  professed  follower  of  Godwin  as  a  moral 
philosopher  I  could  not  but  be  also  an  admirer  of  his  ally 
Holcroft,  whose  novels  "  Anna  St.  Ives  "  and  Hugh  Trevor  " 
I  had  read  with  avidity ;  and  I  had  thought  his  conduct  noble 
in  surrendering  himself  in  court  when  the  trial  of  Thomas 
Hardy  began.  I  was  introduced  to  Holcroft  by  Collier,  but 
the  acquaintance  never  flourisl^ed.  I  was  present,  however, 
at  a  remarkable  dinner  at  his  house  (14th  March).  Aicken, 
of  the  Drury  Lane  company,  highly  respectable  both  as  a 
man  and  an  actor,  and  Sharp  the  engraver,  were  there.  The 
latter  is  still  named  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  English 
engravers ;  he  is  at  the  head  of  the  English  school.  I  possess 
one  of  his  works  which  is  a  masterpiece,  —  "  The  Doctors  of 
the  Church,"  by  Guido.  I  am  no  connoisseur  certainly,  and 
perhaps  have  no  delicate  sense  of  the  beauty  of  engraving ; 
but  I  never  look  on  this  specimen  without  a  lively  pleasure. 
Sharp  was  equally  well  known  in  another  character  which  I 
will  exemplify  by  an  anecdote  from  the  lips  of  Flaxman. 

After  Brothers  had  rendered  himself  by  his  insanity  the 
object  of  universal  interest,  to  which  publicity  had  been  given 
by  the  motion  of  Halked  in  the  House  of  Commons,  I  had  a 
visit  from  my  old  friend  Sharp.  *  I  am  come,'  said  he,  ^  to 
speak  to  you  on  a  matter  of  some  importance.  You  are 
aware  of  the  great  mission  with  w^hich  the  Lord  has  intrusted 
Brothers  1 '  I  intimated  that  I  had  heard  what  everybody 
else  had  heard.  *  Well,'  he  continued,  *  perhaps  you  have  not 
heard  that  I  am  to  accompany  the  Children  of  Israel  on  their 
taking  possession  of  their  country,  the  Holy  Land.  Indeed, 
I  think  I  shall  have  much  to  do  in  the  transplanting  of  the 
nation.  I  have  received  my  instructions,  and  I  have  to  in- 
form you  that  you  also  are  to  accompany  them.  I  know  from 
authority  that  you  are  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.'  I  bowed 
and  intimated  my  sense  of  the  honor  done  me  by  the  invita- 
tion, but  said  it  was  quite  impossible.  I  had  other  duties 
set  out  for  me.  On  my  return  from  Rome  I  bought  this 
house,  and  established  myself  here,  and  here  I  must  maintain 


1799.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


35 


myself  and  my  family.  *  I  am  aware  of  all  that,  said  Sharp, 
'  and  I  have  arranged  everything.  I  kiiow  very  well  you  are 
a  great  artist,  I  know  too  that  you  are  a  great  architect  as 
well  as  a  great  sculptor.  I  shall  have  intrusted  to  me  the 
office  of  making  all  the  chief  appointments  on  this  journey, 
and  I  pledge  myself  that  you  shall  have  the  rebuilding  of 
the  Temple.' "  The  same  mental  delusion  showed  itself  at 
the  dinner  at  Holcroft's.  On  leaving  the  table  Sharp  called 
his  host  out  of  the  room  to  say  that  Buonaparte  was  quite 
safe,  —  it  was  communicated  to  him  last  night  by  authority. 
There  had  been  a  great  battle  yesterday  in  Germany.  Sharp 
was  one  of  the  objects  of  suspicion  to  the  English  govern- 
ment during  the  famous  trials  of  1794.  He  was  a  violent 
Jacobin  and  an  extreme  and  passionate  partisan  of  the  Re- 
publicans. There  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  cabinets  of  the 
curious  an  admired  engraving  by  him  of  Thomas  Paine,  as 
also  of  Brothers,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  messenger  and 
sent  of  God.^ 

It  is  well  known  that  the  French  Revolution  turned  the 
brains  of  many  of  the  noblest  youths  in  England.  Indeed, 
when  such  men  as  Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  Southey,  caught 
the  infection,  no  wonder  that  those  who  partook  of  their  sen- 
sibility but  had  a  very  small  portion  of  their  intellect  were 
carried  away.  Many  were  ruined  by  the  errors  into  which 
they  were  betrayed ;  many  also  lived  to  smile  at  the  follies  of 
their  youth.  "  I  am  no  more  ashamed  of  having  been  a  re- 
publican," said  Southey,  than  I  am  of  having  been  a  child." 
The  opinions  held  led  to  many  political  prosecutions,  and  I 
naturally  had  much  sympathy  with  the  sufferers.  I  find  in 
my  journal,  February  21,  1799,  "An  interesting  and  memora- 
ble day."  It  was  the  day  on  which  Gilbert  Wakefield  was 
convicted  of  a  seditious  libel  and  sentenced  to  two  years'  im- 
prisonment. This  he  suffered  in  Dorchester  jail,  which  he 
left  only  to  die.  Originally  of  the  Established  Church,  he 
became  a  Unitarian,  and  professor  at  the  Hackney  College. 
By  profession  he  was  a  scholar.  His  best  known  work  was 
an  edition  of  "  Lucretius."  He  had  written  against  Person's 
edition  of  the  Hecuba  of  Euripides."  f  It  is  said  that  Per- 
son was  at  a  dinner-party  at  which  toasts  were  going  round ; 

*  Sharp's  engraving  of  "  Richard  Brothers,  Prince  of  the  Hebrews,"  is  a 
small  square,  dated  1795.  Below  it  is  inscribed :  "  Fully  believing  this  to  be 
the  Man  whom  God  has  appointed,  I  engrave  his  likeness.  —  William  Sharp." 

t  In  Euripidis  Hecubam  Londini  nuper  publicatam  Diatribe  Extemporalis. 


36       KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


and  a  name,  accompanied  by  an  appropriate  sentence  from 
Shakespeare,  was  required  from  each  of  the  guests  in  suc- 
cession. Before  Person's  turn  came  he  had  disappeared  be- 
neath the  table,  and  was  supposed  to  be  insensible  to  what 
was  going  on.  This,  however,  was  not  the  case,  for  when  a 
toast  was  required  of  him,  he  staggered  up  and  gave,  "  Gilbert 
Wakefield  !  —  what 's  Hecuba  to  him,  or  he  to  Hecuba  1 " 
Wakefield  was  a  political  fanatic.  He  had  the  pale  com- 
plexion and  mild  features  of  a  saint,  was  a  most  gentle  crea- 
ture in  domestic  life,  and  a  very  amiable  man ;  but  when  he 
took  part  in  political  or  religious  controversy  his  pen  was 
dipped  in  gall.  The  occasion  of  the  imprisonment  before 
alluded  to  was  a  letter  in  reply  to  Watson,  the  Bishop  of 
LlandafF,  who  had  written  a  pamphlet  exhorting  the  people  to 
loyalty.  Wakefield  asserted  that  the  poor,  the  laboring 
classes,  could  lose  nothing  by  French  conquest.  Referring 
to  the  fable  of  the  Ass  and  the  Trumpeter  he  said,  "  Will 
the  enemy  make  me  carry  two  panniers  1 "  and  declared  that 
if  the  French  came  they  would  find  him  at  his  post  with  the 
illustrious  dead. 

The  prosecution  was  not  intemperate,  but  he  gloried  in 
what  he  had  done,  and  was  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  martyr- 
dom. Nothing  could  be  more  injudicious  than  his  defence, 
though  in  a  similar  trial  an  example  had  been  set  him  just 
before  by  Erskine  of  what  such  a  defence  should  be.  My 
friend  Butt  was  one  of  Wakefield's  bail.  On  being  brought 
up  for  judgment  he  spoke  in  mitigation,  but  in  a  way  which 
aggravated  the  offence.  I  accompanied  him  in  a  hackney- 
coach  to  the  King's  Bench  prison.  While  his  friends  were 
arranging  with  the  Governor  about  rooms  there  were  brought 
to  the  prison  two  young  men  named  Parry,  editors  of  The 
Courier  newspaper,  who  had  been  sentenced  to  six  weeks'  im- 
prisonment for  a  libel  on  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  The  libel 
consisted  in  a  single  paragraph,  stating  that  the  Emperor  had 
acted  oppressively  and  made  himself  unpopular  with  the 
nobility  by  a  late  decree  prohibiting  the  importation  of  tim- 
ber. Such  was  the  liberty  of  the  press  in  the  days  of  William 
Pitt! 

H.  C.  R.  TO  T.  Robinson. 

;  (No  date.) 

Dear  Thomas,  — 

....  One  of  the  most  interesting  occurrences  here  has 
been  Wakefield's  trial.    How  I  wished  that  you  had  been 


1799.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


37 


here  then  !  My  acquaintance  with  him  perhaps  heightened 
the  effect ;  but  I  think  to  a  mere  stranger  his  deUvery  of  his 
own  defence  must  have  been  one  of  the  most  gratifying  treats 
which  a  person  of  taste  or  sensibiHty  could  enjoy.  His  sim- 
phcity  quite  apostoHc,  his  courage  purely  heroic.  The  energy 
and  dignity  with  which  he  conducted  himself  have  certainly 
had  no  parallel  of  late  years.  You  saw  a  report  of  his  speech 
in  The  Courier.  It  certainly  was  not  a  good  defence,  but  as 
Anthony  Robinson  observed,  something  better  than  any  de- 
fence, ■ —  a  noble  testimony.  I  dined  in  company  with  him  on 
Monday  and  yesterday.  His  spirits  are  not  in  the  least  de- 
pressed. 

Johnson,  the  Unitarian  publisher  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard, 
was  convicted  of  a  libel  for  selling  Wakefield's  pamphlet ; 
he  was  imprisoned  in  the  King's  Bench  for  a  few  months. 
For  a  consideration  he  was  allowed  to  occupy  apartments 
within  the  rules.  My  first  visit  to  him  in  prison  was  in  com- 
pany with  Mary  Hays,"^  a  very  zealous  political  and  moral  re- 
former, a  friend  of  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  and  author  of  a 
novel  called  "  Memoirs  of  Emma  Courtney."  I  called  on 
Johnson  several  times  and  profited  by  his  advice.  He  was  a 
wise  man,  and  his  remarks  on  the  evil  of  indulging  in  melan- 
choly forebodings  were  applicable  to  a  habit  of  my  own.  He 
described  them  as  the  effect  of  dreamy  indolence,  and  as 
liable  to  increase  from  the  unhealthy  state  into  which  they 
bring  the  mind.  Though  he  did  not  cure  me  of  my  fault, 
some  of  its  consequences  were  mitigated.  I  was  especially 
unhappy  from  my  inability  to  come  to  any  satisfactory  con- 
clusion as  to  my  plan  of  life.  I  hated  the  law,  yet  I  knew 
not  how  otherwise  to  attain  any  social  station.  I  was  am- 
bitious of  literary  distinction,  but  was  conscious  that  I  could 
never  attain  any  reputation  worth  having.  My  desire  to  go 
to  Germany  was  rather  a  pis  alter,  than  from  any  decided 
preference  of  the  comparative  advantages  of  such  a  course. 

One  other  political  prisoner  occasionally  visited  by  me  was 
Benjamin  Flower,  who  had  been  committed  to  Newgate  by 
the  House  of  Lords  for  a  breach  of  privilege. 

*  She  pfofessed  Mary  Wollstonecraft' s  opinions  with  more  zeal  than  discre- 
tion. This  brought  her  into  disrepute  among  the  rigid,  and  her  character 
suffered,  — but  most  undeservedly.  Whatever  her  principles  may  have  been, 
her  conduct  was  perfectly  correct.  My  acquaintance  with  her  continued  till 
her  death.  —  H.  G.  R. 


38      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


H.  C.  R.  TO  HIS  Brother. 

(About)  June,  1799. 

My  dear  Brother,  — 

....  I  suppose  the  fame  of  "  Pizarro  "  has  already  reached 
you.  It  is  unquestionably  the  most  excellent  play  I  ever  saw 
for  variety  of  attractions.  The  scenery  and  decorations  are 
splendid  and  magnificent  without  being  tawdry  or  puerile, 
and  these  ornaments  are  made  to  heighten,  not  supersede, 
real  dramatic  merit.  The  tragedy  possesses  scenes  of  the 
most  tender  and  pathetic  kind,  and  others  highly  heroic. 
Mrs.  Siddons  displays  her  usual  powers  in  the  character  of 
the  mistress  of  Pizarro,  —  proud,  haughty,  with  a  true  sense 
of  honor  and  a  romantic  passion  for  glory  :  in  love  with  Pi- 
zarro because  he  was  great,  she  hates  him  when  he  degrades 
himself  by  acts  of  meanness,  —  herself  a  criminal,  her  pas- 
sion for  humanity  leads  her  to  acts  of  heroism  and  despera- 
tion. Kemble  plays  the  Peruvian  Chieftain  in  his  very  best 
style.  The  lover  of  Cora,  he  voluntarily  yields  her  to  Alonzo, 
and  when  they  are  married,  devotes  his  life  to  their  happi- 
ness ;  brave,  generous,  and  pious,  he  is  a  kind  of  demi-god,  — 
and  you  know  with  what  skill  Kemble  can  assume  the  god 
and  try  to  shake  the  spheres."  The  incidents  are  in  them- 
selves so  highly  interesting  and  extraordinary  that  far  less 
superiority  of  acting  and  pomp  of  machinery  would  have  given 
ordinary  effect  to  the  piece  ;  but,  when  united  with  the  ut- 
most efforts  of  the  painter  and  machinist,  they  produce  a  dra- 
ma absolutely  without  parallel.  Were  you  a  little  richer  I 
should  recommend  a  journey  to  London  on  purpose  to  see  it. 

I  have  also  been  greatly  amused  by  hearing  one  of  Mackin- 
tosh's lectures.  It  was  on  the  British  Constitution.  Though 
his  praise  of  the  British  Constitution  was  extravagant,  he  was 
far  from  being  uniformly  favorable  to  the  cause  of  government. 
His  favorite  notion  concerning  the  Constitution  is,  that  it  is 
the  most  truly  democratic  of  any  that  has  ever  existed.  He 
defines  a  real  democracy  to  be  a  government  where  the  opinion 
of  the  body  of  the  people  influences  and  governs  the  state, 
whatever  the  nominal  legislature  may  be.  And  he  boldly 
asserts  that  a  more  formal  democracy  would  lessen  the  real 
democracy,  because  it  is  the  nature  of  all  mobs  and  public 
assemblies  to  be  under  the  secret  guidance  of  factious  dema- 
gogues ;  and  that  the  people  in  such  states  never  act,  precisely 
because  they  are  the  direct  actors,  and  have  a  power  nominally 


1779.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


39 


given  them  which  they  cannot  exercise.  He  urged  the  com- 
mon argument  in  favor  of  Monarchy,  that  it  took  from  the 
ambitious  the  motives  to  be  factious  and  breed  dissension  in 
order  to  procure  the  principal  stations ;  and  that  the  king, 
sharing  the  honor  of  victory  and  the  affections  of  the  soldiery 
with  the  General,  was  not  likely  to  become  a  military  tyrant. 
He  defended  Coalitions,  Parties,  and  moderation  towards  ex- 
Ministers,  was  eloquent  against  the  French,  but  likewise  hinted 
at  the  danger  to  public  liberty  from  not  watching  the  govern- 
ment. On  the  whole  I  was  much  pleased  with  the  lecture, 
which  was  well  adapted  to  secure  popularity.  ^As  to  his  poli- 
tics, they  are  certainly  moderate,  nor  do  I  know  that  he  has 
gone  an  inch  beyond  pure  Whiggism. 

Horne  Tooke  has  never  been  a  favorite  of  mine,  but  I  never 
thought  so  well  of  his  heart  as  I  have  done  from  his  behavior 
to  Wakefield,  which  was  kind  and  respectful ;  and  when  we 
consider,  not  how  like,  but  how  unlike  their  characters  are, 
his  attentions  do  him  the  greatest  honor.  The  day  sentence 
was  passed  he  sent  to  Wakefield,  and,  in  his  jocular  way,  com- 
forted him  by  observing  that  probably  a  year  hence  he  and 
Mrs.  Wakefield  would  be  congratulating  each  other  on  his  sit- 
uation, —  "  For,  my  dear,  it  has  saved  you,"  Mrs.  Wakefield 
will  say ;  "  you  see  Tooke  and  the  rest  of  them  are  half-way 
on  their  voyage  to  Botany  Bay."  Horne  Tooke  promised  too, 
old  as  he  was,  to  visit  him  at  Dorchester,  though  he  said  he 
had  not  thought  he  should  travel  seven  miles  from  Wimbledon 
again.  This  looks  well.  You  have  heard,  I  dare  say,  that 
Tooke's  friends  have  lately  raised  him  an  annuity  for  life  of 
£600.    This  following  Dr.  Parr's  and  Fox's  seems  to  show 

that  all  regard  for  public  characters  is  not  at  an  end  

.   Adieu.    In  haste, 

Yours,  &c., 

H.  C.  R. 

I  became  acquainted  about  this  time  with  George  Dyer. 
He  was  one  of  the  best  creatures  morally  that  ever  breathed. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  watchman  in  Wapping,  and  was  put  to  a 
charity  school  by  some  pious  Dissenting  ladies.  He  afterwards 
went  to  Christ's  Hospital,  and  from  there  was  sent  to  Cam- 
bridge. He  was  a  scholar,  but  to  the  end  of  his  days  (and  he 
lived  to  be  eighty-five)  was  a  bookseller's  drudge.  He  led  a 
life  of  literary  labor  in  poverty.  He  made  indexes,  corrected 
the  press,  and  occasionally  gave  lessons  in  Latin  and  Greek. 


40       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


When  an  undergraduate  at  Cambridge  he  became  a  hearer  of 
Robert  Eobinson,  and  consequently  a  Unitarian.  This  closed 
the  Church  against  him,  and  he  never  had  a  Fellowship.  He 
became  intimate  with  the  leashes,  Fordhams,  and  E,utt,  and 
was  patronized  by  Wakefield  and  Mrs.  Barbauld.  He  wrote 
one  good  book,  "  The  Life  of  Robert  Robinson,"  which  I 
have  heard  Wordsworth  mention  as  one  of  the  best  works  of 
biography  in  the  language.  Dyer  also  put  his  name  to  several 
volumes  of  poetry ;  but  on  his  poems  my  friend  Reid  made  an 
epigram  that  I  fear  was  thought  just  :  — 

The  world  all  say,  my  gentle  Dyer, 
Thy  odes  do  very  much  want  fire. 
Repair  the  fault,  my  gentle  Dyer, 
And  throw  thy  odes  into  the  fire." 

Dyer  had  the  kindest  heart  and  simplest  manners  imaginable. 
It  was  literally  the  case  with  him  that  he  would  give  away  his 
last  guinea.  He  was  not  sensible  of  any  impropriety  in  wear- 
ing a  dirty  shirt  or  a  ragged  coat ;  and  numerous  are  the  tales 
told  in  illustration  of  his  neglect  of  little  every-day  matters 
of  comfort.  He  has  asked  a  friend  to  breakfast  with  him,  and 
given  him  coarse  black  tea,  stale  bread,  salt  butter,  sour  milk, 
and  has  had  to  run  out  to  buy  sugar.  Yet  every  one  loved 
Dyer.  One  day  Mrs.  Barbauld  said  to  me,  "  Have  you  heard 
whom  Lord  Stanhope  has  made  executor  ]  "  —  "  No  !  Your 
brother  V  —  ^'  No,  there  would  have  been  nothing  m  that. 
The  very  worst  imaginable."  —  "  0,  then  it  is  Buonaparte."  — • 
"No,  guess  again." — "George  Dyer]"  —  "You  are  right. 
Lord  Stanhope  w^as  clearly  insane  ! "  Dyer  was  one  of  six 
executors.  Charles  James  Fox  was  another.  The  executors 
were  also  residuary  legatees.  Dyer  was  one  of  the  first  to 
declare  that  he  rejected  the  legacy  and  renounced  the  execu- 
torship. But  the  heir  insisted  on  granting  him  a  small  an- 
nuity ;  his  friends  having  before  settled  another  on  him,  he 
was  comparatively  wealthy  in  his  old  age.  Not  many  years 
before  his  death,  he  married  his  laundress,  by  the  advice  of 
his  friends,  —  a  very  worthy  woman.  He  said  to  me  once, 
"  Mrs.  Dyer  is  a  woman  of  excellent  natural  sense,  but  she  is 
not  literate."  That  is,  she  could  neither  read  nor  write.  Dyer 
was  blind  for  a  few  years  before  his  death.  I  used  occasionally 
to  go  on  a  Sunday  morning  to  read  to  him.  At  other  times  a 
poor  man  used  to  render  him  that  service  for  sixpence  an  hour. 
After  he  came  to  London,  Dyer  lived  always  in  some  very 
humble  chambers  in  Clifford's  Inn,  Fleet  Street. 


1799.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


41 


Another  interesting  acquaintance  I  made  at  this  period  was 
with  William  Hazlitt,  —  a  man  who  has  left  a  deservedly  high 
reputation  as  a  critic ;  but  at  the  time  I  first  knew  him  he 
was  struggling  against  a  great  difficulty  of  expression,  which 
rendered  him  by  no  means  a  general  favorite  in  society.  His 
bashfulness,  want  of  words,  slovenliness  of  dress,  &c.,  made 
him  sometimes  the  object  of  ridicule.  It  will  be  better,  per- 
haps, if  I  confine  myself  at  present  to  describing  him  as  he 
was  at  this  early  period  of  our  acquaintance.  He  was  the 
younger  brother  of  John  Hazlitt,  the  miniature  painter.  His 
first  design  was  to  be  a  Dissenting  minister ;  and  for  that  pur- 
pose he  went  to  the  Unitarian  New  College,  Hackney.  He 
afterwards  thought  of  becoming  a  painter,  and  lived  with  his 
brother.  At  our  first  interview  I  saw  he  was  an  extraordinary 
man.  He  had  few  friends,  and  was  flattered  by  my  attentions. 
We  were  about  the  same  age,  and  I  was  able  to  render  him  a 
service  by  introducing  him  to  Anthony  Eobinson,  who  induced 
Johnson  to  publish  Hazlitt's  first  work,  The  Eloquence  of  the 
British  Senate."  Late  in  life,  when  our  intimacy  had  been 
broken  off*,  he  said  to  Mary  Lamb,  "  Eobinson  cuts  me,  but  I 
shall  never  cease  to  have  a  regard  for  him,  for  he  was  the  first 
person  who  ever  found  out  that  there  was  anything  in  me." 
I  was  alone  in  this  opinion  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speak- 
ing. I  recollect  saying  to  my  sister-in-law,  "Whom  do  you 
suppose  I  hold  to  be  the  cleverest  person  I  know  1 "  —  "  Capel 
Lofft,  perhaps^"  — "No."— "Mrs.  Clarkson  1 "  —  " 0  no." 
—  " Miss  Maling —  "  No."  —  "  I  give  it  up."  —  "  William 
Hazlitt."  —  "  O,  you  are  joking.  Why,  we  all  take  him  to  be 
just  the  reverse."  At  this  time  he  was  excessively  shy,  espe- 
cially in  the  company  of  young  ladies,  who  on  their  part  were 
very  apt  to  make  fun  of  him.  The  prettiest  girl  of  our  parties 
about  this  time  was  a  Miss  Kitchener,  and  she  used  to  drive 
him  mad  by  teasing  him. 

I  was  under  great  obligations  to  Hazlitt  as  the  director  of 
my  taste.  It  was  he  who  first  made  me  acquainted  with  the 
L3rrical  Ballads  and  the  poems  generally  of  Wordsworth,  Cole- 
ridge, Lamb,  and  Southey. 

Among  those  to  whom  Mary  Hays  introduced  me  was  the 
free-thinking,  ultra-liberal  Roman  Catholic  priest.  Dr.  Geddes, 
translator  of  the  Old  Testament,  —  a  man  of  fine  person  and 
very  amiable  manners.  His  wit  was  exhibited  in  macaronic 
verses.  He  was  a  patron  of  two  young  ladies,  the  Miss  Plump- 
tres.    Anne  Pliimptres  made  herself  known  as  one  of  the  first 


42       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  4. 


introducers  of  German  plays,  —  she  translated  many  of  Kotze- 
bue's. 

During  this  summer  my  friend  Miss  Maling  was  in  London, 
living  in  the  same  house  with  the  Archbishop  of  Aix,  —  a  man 
known  to  history  ;  he  pronounced  the  oration  at  the  corona- 
tion of  Louis  XVL,  and  afterwards  by  the  favor  of  Napoleon 
obtained  a  cardinal's  hat.*  He  was  a  zealous  emigrant  at  this 
time.  Having  conceived  a  great  respect  for  Miss  Maling,  he 
had  destined  for  her  the  post  of  Lectrice  to  the  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans, had  the  Revolution  succeeded,  which  was  projected  this 
year.  He  was  a  man  of  letters  and  a  poet.  I  had  the  honor  - 
of  an  introduction  to  him,  but  a  mere  introduction.  I  had 
only  time  to  admire  his  majestic  figure.  His  preaching  I 
thought  magnificent. 

I  made  in  this  year  a  pedestrian  tour  in  Wales.  On  my 
way  I  visited  Stonehenge,  —  the  first  place  I  ever  went  to  see 
as  an  object  of  curiosity ;  and  I  had  all  the  enjoyment  that 
was  to  be  derived  from  so  novel  and  so  sublime  a  scene.  This 
tour,  of  which  I  shall  write  little,  afibrded  me  the  opportunity 
of  visiting  two  men,  who  suffered  for  political  opinions,  — 
Gilbert  Wakefield  and  John  Thelwall ;  the  former  was  in  pris- 
on at  Dorchester.  A  subscription  of  £  3,000  had  been  raised 
by  his  friends,  who  were  thereby  enabled  to  supply  Mrs.  Wake- 
field with  a  very  comfortable  house  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
prison.  Here  she  and  the  children  dwelt,  and  a  spare  room 
was  always  ready  for  some  friendly  visitor.  During  Wakefield's 
imprisonment  this  room  was  almost  always  in  use.  I  occu- 
pied it  several  days,  and  found  him  suff'ering  more  in  his  spirits 
than  was  expected.  The  distress  he  witnessed  in  jail,  and 
the  presence  of  physical  and  moral  evil,  preyed  on  his  mind 
and  seemed  to  crush  him.t 

John  Thelwall,  to  whom  I  have  already  alluded,  as  having 
had  a  narrow  escape  of  conviction  for  high  treason,  had  settled 
down  in  a  farm  in  a  beautiful  place  near  Brecon.  His  history 
is  known  to  all  who  care  to  inform  themselves  of  the  personal 
occurrences  of  this  eventful  period.  He  had  left  his  shop  (that 
of  a  silk  mercer)  to  be  one  of  the  Reformers  of  the  age.  After 
his  acquittal  he  went  about  the  country  lecturing,  and  was  ex- 

*  On  the  copy  of  a  letter  by  the  Archbishop,  Mr.  Robinson  has  written  : 
"  Afterwards  Cardinal  Boisgelin,  an  emigrant  nobleman  wlio  made  his  peace 
with  Buonaparte,  and  had  his  due  reward  in  a  cardinal's  hat  for  preaching  a 
sermon  on  the  Emperor's  marriage." 

t  He  was  released  from  prison  May  30, 1801,^and  died  on  the.Oth  of  Septem- 
ber in  the  same  year.  ' 


1799.] 


UNSETTLED  LIFE  IN  LONDON. 


43 


posed  to  great  varieties  of  fortune.  Sometimes  he  was  attended 
by  numerous  admirers,  but  more  frequently  hooted  and  pelted 
by  the  mob.  In  order  to  escape  prosecution  for  sedition  he 
took  as  his  subject  Greek  and  Roman  History,  and  had  ingenu- 
ity enough  to  give  such  a  coloring  to  events  and  characters  as  to 
render  the  application  to  living  persons  and  present  events  an 
exciting  mental  exercise.  I  had  heard  one  or  two  of  these  lec- 
tures, and  thought  very  differently  of  him  then  from  what  I 
thought  afterwards.  When,  however,  he  found  his  popularity 
on  the  wane,  and  more  stringent  laws  had  been  passed,  to  which 
he  individually  gave  occasion,  he  came  to  the  prudent  resolution 
of  abandoning  his  vagrant  habits  and  leading  a  domestic  life  in 
the  country.  It  was  at  this  period  that  my  visit  was  paid, 
and  I  received  a  most  cordial  welcome.  His  wife  was  a  very 
pleasing  woman,  a  great  admirer  of  her  husband,  —  never  a  re- 
proach to  a  wife,  though  the  kind  of  husband  she  has  chosen 
may  sometimes  be  so.  But  Thelwall  was  an  amiable  man  in 
private  life  ;  an  affectionate  husband,  and  a  fond  father.  He 
altogether  mistook  his  talents,  —  he  told  me  without  reserve 
that  he  believed  he  should  establish  his  name  among  the  epic 
poets  of  England ;  and  it  is  a  curious  thing,  considering  his 
own  views,  that  he  thought  the  establishment  of  Christianity 
and  the  British  Constitution  very  appropriate  subjects  for  his 
poem. 

After  a  stay  of  a  week,  I  left  my  friends  with  a  strong  sense 
of  their  personal  kindness.  I  may  add  here  that  when  farm- 
ing had  succeeded  as  ill  as  political  agitation,  he  took  to  the 
teaching  of  oratory  as  a  profession,  and  for  a  time  succeeded  in 
it.  For  some  years  he  had  an  establishment  in  Upper  Bedford 
Place,  where  he  received  boarders.  But  gradually  his  didactic 
talents  were  directed  more  especially  to  the  correction  of  de- 
fects arising  from  the  malformation  of  the  organs  of  speech. 

At  Haverfordwest  an  unexpected  pleasure  awaited  me.  I 
fell  in  with  Robert  Hall.  He  received  me  with  apparent  pleas- 
ure, and  was  kind  without  being  flattering.  His  countenance 
indicated  a  powerful  intellect  and  strong  sensibility.  In  dis- 
putation he  expressed  himself  with  his  characteristic  point,  and 
sometimes  with  virulence.  He  spoke  of  my  sister-in-law  with 
unusual  seriousness,  and  said  she  was  the  most  extraordinary 
instance  he  had  ever  known  of  a  woman  of  superior  talents 
preserving  universal  respect ;  abilities  being  so  rare  among 
women,  and  when  found  so  rarely  accompanied  by  amiable 
qualities.  ^  The  onl^r  SLllusioti  he  made  to  our  correspondence 


44       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 


was  by  saying  of  one  who  thought  himself  ill  treated:  "He 
ought  at  once  to  have  come  forward,  and  in  a  manly  way,  as 
you  did,  have  made  his  complaint." 

In  passing  through  Wem  in  Shropshire  I  saw  a  very  worthy 
old  Presbyterian  minister,  —  not  worse  than  an  Arian,  I  pre- 
sume, —  the  father  of  the  Hazlitts.  William,  who  had  become 
my  friend,  was  not  there,  but  John,  the  miniature-painter, 
was.^  I  liked  the  good  old  man  and  his  wife,  who  had  all  the 
solidity  (I  do  not  mean  stolidity)  and  sober  earnestness  of  the 
more  respectable  Noncons.  There  was  also  a  maiden  sister. 
Altogether  an  amusing  and  agreeable  group  in  my  memory. 

On  my  return  from  Wales  I  took  Bath  in  my  way.  Seven 
years  had  elapsed  since  I  attended  my  mother  in  her  last  ill- 
ness, and  my  desire  to  see  the  place  of  her  interment  was 
increased  by  something  Mrs.  Fenner  had  related  to  me.  My 
mother  had  expressed  pain  at  being  buried  at  so  great  a  dis- 
tance from  her  children.  She  feared  they  would  never  see  her 
grave.  "  But,"  she  added,  "  I  have  no  doubt  Henry  will  come 
though  he  walk."  I  did  not  need  this  stimulus,  for  my  mother 
was  the  sole  object  of  my  fondness  as  a  child.  It  was  a  sub- 
stantial gratification  to  me  to  find  my  mother's  grave  in  one 
of  the  most  beautifully  situated  churchyards  I  ever  saw,  —  a 
long  slip  of  land  near  Whitcomb  Church.  I  have  often  visited 
it  since,  and  always  with  a  sort  of  pleasure.! 


CHAPTER  V. 

GERMANY.  1800  AND  1801. 

I AM  now  come  to  an  incident,  which  had  a  great  influence 
on  my  tastes  and  feelings,  and  therefore,  I  have  no  doubt, 
on  my  character.  In  the  course  of  this  year  I  went  to  Ger- 
many, where  I  remained  more  than  five  years,  and  pursued 
something  like  study,  and  where  I  was  brought  into  contact 
with  some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  age. 

Mr.  Aldebert,  a  German  merchant  with  whom  I  had  become 

*  An  interestiniQj  but  weakly  painted  portrait  of  Joseph  Lancaster  by  John 
Hazlitt  is  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  It  is  in  oil,  the  size  of  life,  and 
evidently  the  production  of  an  artist  accustomed  to  work  on  a  smaller  scale 
with  different  materials.  —  G.  S,  ■ 

t  This  part  of  the  Reminiscences  was  written  in  1845  and  1846. 


1800.] 


GERMANY. 


45 


acquainted,  undertook  to  convoy  me  as  far  as  Frankfort.  The 
journey,  which  now  may  be  accompUshed  easily  and  in  a  very 
short  time,  was  comparatively  formidable  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century.  We  embarked  at  Yarmouth,  on  the  3d  of  April, 
and  on  Friday  evening  I  beheld  that  dismal  fortress  Heligo- 
land, a  scene  which  in  my  imagination  might  be  appropriately 
connected  with  Groethe's  "  Natiirliche  Tochter."  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  6th  we  landed  at  Cuxhaven,  and  proceeded  by  land 
to  Hamburg.  I  have  still  a  clear  recollection  of  the  flat,  cold, 
colorless  country,  which  an  instinctive  feeling  had  led  the  in- 
habitants to  make  as  lively  as  possible  by  the  bright  green  on 
the  scattered  houses. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  HIS  Brother  T.  R. 

We  remained  twelve  days  at  the  Kaiserhof,  where  we  paid 
75.  a  day  for  a  dirty  room  on  a  second  floor,  is.  to  the  man 
who  waited  on  us  at  the  hotel  and  attended  us  in  the  towi, 
and  Is.  4d  for  breakfast ;  in  short,  where,  though  we  lived  in 
the  plainest  and  most  economical  style,  our  daily  bill  was 
nearly  a  guinea  apiece.  We  then  removed  to  private  lodgings, 
where  the  civility  and  honesty  of  the  good  family  reminded  us  , 
of  the  family  of  Lot. 

The  houses  at  Hamburg  perpetually  suggest  the  idea  that 
you  are  looking  at  England  as  it  was  a  century  ago.  The 
original  model  of  a  faim-house  (and  farm-houses  were  the 
primitive  houses)  as  I  have  seen  it  in  the  wild  parts  of  Han- 
over, is  that  of  one  immense  room,  without  chimney  or  di- 
vision, —  the  various  parts  being  allotted,  as  a  farmer  lays  out 
his  different  seeds  or  fruits.  At  one  corner  the  fire,  —  here 
the  beds,  —  there  the  piggery,  —  there  some  furniture,  —  and 
a  good  carriage-way  all  through.  Now  the  progress  of  refine- 
ment is  this  :  after  a  time  the  sides  are  separated  (like  the 
King's  Bench  and  Common  Pleas  in  Westminster  Hall),  glazed, 
and  adorned,  for  the  women  and  children,  —  but  still  the  cen- 
tre is  unpaved.  I  have  seen  several  respectable  houses  of  this 
kind  in  the  country  near  Hamburg.  Refinement  increases, 
but  still  the  old  hall  remains  as  in  ancient  English  mansions. 
Perhaps  we  have  gone  beyond  the  exact  mark  of  propriety 
through  our  proud  love  of  retirement,  and  by  converting  our 
halls  into  narrow  passages  and  large  parlors,  have  injured  oiur 
houses  as  summer  retreats  and  promoted  the  natural  shyness 


46       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

of  our  tempers.  In  the  houses  near  Hamburg  the  genteelest 
families  dine  or  drink  coffee  in  their  halls,  and  with  the  doors 
open  to  observation  and  curiosity.  In  the  town,  too,  most  of 
the  houses  have  the  narrow  or  gable  end  in  front,  which  ne- 
cessarily precludes  the  elegant  uniformity  of  a  Bath  street, 
bat  at  the  same  time  allows  of  an  infinite  variety  of  ornament, 
which  gives  an  idea  of  distinctiveness,  and  is,  I  think,  an  ad- 
vantage. As  the  stories  rise,  the  curtain,  if  it  may  be  so 
called,  is  narrowed  till  it  terminates  in  a  pyramid.  There  is, 
it  must  be  confessed,  a  great  waste  of  room  in  the  lofty  halls 
and  shops,  which  you  see  in  the  front  of  the  Hamburg  houses. 
But  perhaps  it  is  more  pleasing  to  witness  resources  and  means 
of  future  improvements,  as  necessities  may  arise,  than  to  be- 
hold, as  in  London,  every  inch  occupied,  and  management  and 
economy  put  to  their  last  shifts.  The  dress  of  the  lower  class- 
es confirms  the  suggestion  that  Germany  is  now  what  England 
Ivas.  Many  a  poor  woman  wears  a  tight  black  velvet  bonnet 
like  that  in  which  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  is  painted.  The  Lu- 
theran clergy  appear  to  wear  the  cast-off  ruffs  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. 

After  remaining  a  few  weeks  at  Hamburg,  we  proceeded  to 
Frankfort,  where  Mr.  Aldebert  procured  me  lodgings  near  his 
own  house,  and  introduced  me  to  his  relations  and  partners. 
I  set  about  reading  as  hard  as  I  could,  dining  at  the  various 
hotels  in  the  city,  which  were  famed  for  their  excellence.  My 
first  object  was  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  I  took  lessons  of  an  old  man  named  Peile,  who 
confided  to  me  that  he  had  been  when  young  a  member  of  the 
Illuminati,  an  order  of  which  he  gave  me  a  better  opinion  than 
I  previously  had,  both  in  regard  to  their  intentions  and  their 
practical  ability. 

Frankfort  was  then  a  fortified  town,  much  to  its  disadvan- 
tage in  regard  to  air  and  comfort,  and  without  any  adequate 
compensation,  for  the  fortification  was  next  to  useless.  Now, 
in  the  place  of  the  walls  and  ditches,  there  are  beautiful  walks 
which  render  the  place  as  agreeable  as  it  was  formerly  dismal. 
Though  professedly  neutral,  its  neutrality  was  violated  on  the 
6th  of  July. 

H.  C.  K.  TO  T.  E. 

I  believe  were  a  cracker  or  squib  to  be  let  off  in  any  town 
in  Great  Britain,  and  were  it  thought  to  come  from  a  French 


1800.] 


GERMANY. 


47 


hand,  half  the  old  women  would  be  in  fits.  Now,  I  had  so 
much  of  the  old  woman  in  me  that  one  day  when  I  was  sleep- 
ing over  my  German  grammar,  and  the  maid  burst  into  the 
room,  crying,  "  The  French  are  at  the  gates,"  I  made  but  two 
skips  down  stairs,  and  flew  into  the  principal  street.  It  was  a 
false  alarm,  but  I  found  all  in  confusion,  —  a  body  of  Mayen- 
gois  troops  had  demanded  entrance,  and  were  then  on  their 
march  to  support  their  allies,  whom  the  French  were  attack- 
ing a  few  miles  off.  They  had  cannon,  with  lighted  matches. 
The  men  were  fine  fellows,  and  without  being  sad  were  grave. 
I  knew  they  were  going  into  the  field,  and  I  felt  that  sinking 
within  the  breast  which  betrays  the  coward,  —  but  they  passed 
away  and  my  sinking  too.  The  rest  of  the  day  nothing  was 
known.  On  the  morrow  we  learnt  that  the  French  had  been 
thrice  beaten  back,  but  that  early  in  the  morning  they  had  re- 
newed the  attack,  and  were  now  in  the  midst  of  the  engage- 
ment. I  left  my  books,  and  hastened  to  the  ramparts,  which 
were  covered  with  idlers.  Couriers  passed  backwards  and  for- 
wards, but  nobody  knew  what  was  going  forward.  Citizens 
are  mob,  and  soldiers  are  gentlemen  at  such  times;  and 
Sterne's  remark  concerning  Susanna  and  the  women  at  a  groan- 
ing might  be  parodied  here.  Our  curiosity  was  not  left,  how- 
ever, to  starve  for  want  of  nourishment ;  every  now  and  then 
a  wagon  slowly  entered  the  town,  and  though  covered  with 
straw  or  cloth,  we  generally  could  perceive  something  moving 
underneath,  —  it  was  only  a  wounded  man,  —  nothing  more  ! 
By  and  by  I  ventured,  with  the  doctor  of  the  house,  to  make 
an  excursion.  We  walked  up  a  hill,  and  were  near  enough  to 
hear  the  discharge  of  musketry,  and  see  the  smoke  and  flash 
of  the  cannons,  but  that  was  all.  And  I  was  half  angry  with 
myself  for  being  so  composed.  It  was  probable  that  every  in- 
stant some  horrid  wound  was  inflicted,  or  some  wretch  sudden- 
ly carried  off,  and  yet  I  ate  cherries  !  And  how  could  it  be 
otherwise  ]  We  are  sympathetic ;  and  indifference,  or  the 
want  of  passion,  is  catching  as  well  as  passion  itself  The 
persons  around  me  were  at  their  ease,  and  that  made  me  so  in 
a  great  degree.  -I  cannot  forbear  to  make  a  remark,  which 
though  simple  is  important.  From  the  modern  system  of  war 
and  politics,  by  which  the  civil  and  the  military  state  are  so 
much  separated,  and  the  subject  is  so  much  distinguished  from 
the  prince,  this  consequence  has  arisen,  —  that  war  has  ceased 
to  be  a  matter  of  national  passion,  and  has  become  in  a  great 
degree  a  professional  l^isiness.  At  least  in  this  neighborhood 
it  is  so. 


48      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


Next  day  in  the  evening  the  French  actually  came,  and  I, 
standing  on  the  walls,  witnessed  their  entrance.  The  general 
indifference  at  the  event  confounded  me ;  but  it  was  in  reality 
an  affair  of  money.  They  came  not  as  an  enemy.  •  The  sol- 
diers were  billeted  in  the  town  ;  and  a  gentlemanly  young 
officer  was  in  the  house  in  which  I  lodged.  With  him  I  soon 
became  acquainted.  He  loved  poetry,  and  we  talked  on  va- 
rious subjects.  Nor  did  he  take  any  exception  to  my  being  an 
Englishman.    At  this  moment  the  war  was. flagging. 

Of  those  to  whom  I  was  introduced,  there  is  one  of  whom  it 
is  necessary  that  I  should  write  a  few  words.  This  was  Sophia 
de  la  Roche,  a  sentimental  novelist,  and  in  her  youth  a  friend 
of  Wieland,  under  whose  auspices  she  became  known  as  an 
authoress.  Her  daughter  married  Brentano,  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant, who  died  young ;  and  among  her  grandchildren  were 
several  with  whom  I  had  much  to  do  during  my  residence  in 
Germany.  She  herself  was  never  tired  of  talking  of  Eng- 
land, of  which  she  was  a  passionate  admirer.  An  amusing 
account  of  her  is  given  in  Madame  d'Arblay's  Memoirs.*  In 
extravagant  language  she  poured  out  to  me  her  love  of  this 
country,  declaring  that  on  her  death-bed  she  should  thank 
God  for  her  journey  hither,  and  expressing  the  wish  that  she 
could  offer  up  her  soul  to  God  in  Richmond  vale ! 

My  journal  mentions  a  circumstance  worth  recording  in 
connection  with  the  drama  in  the  wealthy  city  of  Frankfort. 
I  saw  the  j^ay  of  "  Hamlet "  performed  by  actors  of  repute ; 
but  the  catastrophe  was  changed.  As  Hamlet  is  about  to 
drink  the  poison  the  Queen's  illness  is  perceived,  —  his  hand 
is  stayed,  —  he  rushes  on  the  King  and  slays  him,  —  he  is  at- 
tacked, —  thunder  is  heard,  — the  Queen  confesses,  — he  for- 
gives Laertes,  —  and  all 's  well  that  ends  well.  This  I  have 
told  to  Germans,  who  have  wished  to  deny  the  fact. 

In  July  I  wrote  to  my  brother  :  "  My  last  letter  told  you 
that  I  had  ceased  to  be  a  traveller.  The  effect  produced  on 
the  mind  by  the  knowledge  that  you  are  but  the  inhabitant 
of  a  day  is  really  astonishing.  It  quickens  the  observation 
and  animates  the  spirits  exceedingly.  While  I  was  on  my 
journey  nothing  escaped  me.  It  was  a  second  childhood.  I 
was  once  more  gay,  impetuous,  inquisitive,  and  adventurous ; 
but  as  soon  as  I  had  fixed  myself  I  became  the  same  dull, 
phlegmatic,  and  sometimes  hyppish  soul,  which  I  was  often  in 


*  Diary  and  Letters  of  Madame  d'Arblav.  September,  1786.  Vol.  III.  p. 
136.  "  m 


1800.] 


GERMANY. 


49 


my  lodgings  in  London.  I  am  now  so  domesticated,  so  recon- 
ciled to  the  slight  varieties  of  manners,  that  nothing  but  the 
language  reminds  me  I  am  out  of  Old  England." 

In  September  I  give  this  account  of  my  life  at  Frank- 
fort :  — 

"  I  breakfast  at  half  past  seven,  and  dine  at  twelve  ;  then 
I  go  to  a  reading  society,  where  I  meet  with  a  profusion  of 
German  magazines  (which  are  something  between  the  English 
magazines  and  periodical  essayists),  the  Moniteur  and  French 
journals,  and  the  English  Chronicle.  This  is  an  agreeable 
addition  to  what  my  sister  properly  calls  ^  my  comforts,*  and 
is  my  after-dinner  dessert.  Three  times  a  week  I  go  to  a 
respectable  old  gentleman  who  corrects  my  translations  into 
German,  and  from  him  I  try  to  get  an  idea  of  German  litera- 
ture. It  is,  however,  too  soon  to  talk  about  it.  I  take  soli- 
tary walks  about  the  town,  which  are  pleasant,  and  generally 
on  the  Sunday  accompany  some  friends  to  one  of  the  neigh- 
boring villages,  where  we  drink  coffee  or  wine.  This  is  the 
universal  custom,  and  I  do  not  dislike  it.  These  little  parties 
are  not  expensive.  The  company  is  very  mixed,  and  there  is 
often  music  and  dancing,  —  but  the  dancing  is  unlike  any- 
thing you  ever  saw.  You  must,  have  heard  of  it  under  the 
name  of  waltzing,  —  that  is,  rolling  or  turning,  though  the 
rolling  is  not  horizontal  but  perpendicular.  Yet  Werter,  after 
describing  his  first  waltz  with  Charlotte,  says,  —  and  I  say  so 
too,  —  '  I  felt  that  if  I  were  married,  my  wife  should  waltz  (or 
roll)  with  no  one  but  myself.'  Judge,  —  the  man  places  the 
palms  of  his  hands  gently  against  the  sides  of  his  partner,  not 
far  from  the  arm-pits.  His  partner  does  the  same,  and  in- 
stantly with  as  much  velocity  as  possible  they  turn  round  and 
at  the  same  time  gradually  glide  round  the  room.  Now,  as 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  borrowed  his  notion  of  attraction  from  an 
apple  falling,  why  might  not  Copernicus,  who  was  a  German,* 
conceive  his  theory  of  the  twofold  motion  of  the  earth  from  a 
waltz,  where  both  parties  with  great  rapidity  themselves  turn 
round  and  yet  make  the  circuit  of  the  room*? " 

It  was  my  habit  to  make  occasional  excursions  when  I  found 
a  suitable  companion.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  when  Mrs. 
Aldebert  was  following  her  husband  to  England,  I  accompanied 
her  to  the  gates  of  Castel,  a  suburb  of  Mainz,  and  was  left 
without  a  passport. 

At  the  inn  at  Hochheim  I  found  three  French  officers.  I 


VOL.  I. 


*  Copernicus  was  a  PoIq. 
3 


50       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

was  startled,  but  as  there  was  an  armistice  (it  was  the  16th 
of  August)  I  thought  frankness  the  safest  policy.  I  joined 
them  at  the  dinner-table.  ^^A  hot  day,  sir."  —  Yes,  sir." 
(N.  B.  The  French,  like  the  Quakers,  do  not  like  to  be  called 
"  Citizen  "  but  by  a  citizen,  though,  unlike  the  brethren,  they 
preserve  the  old  forms  of  civility,  and  use  "Sir"  as  much  as 
formerly  to  strangers.)  I  immediately  told  of  my  ride  from 
Frankfort,  of  my  friends  who  were  at  Mainz,  and  of  my  inca- 
pacity to  follow  them.  "It  is  mortifying,"  said  I,  "to  see  a 
fine  town  and  rich  country  shut  against  one."  —  "  Yes,  to  be 
sure ;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  get  a  pass.  You  are  a  Ger- 
man '? "  —  ^'  No.''  —  "  Pray  what  countryman  are  you,  then  % " 
—  "Can  I  answer  with  safety]  If,  now,  I  should  be  an 
unlucky  enemy  by  birth,  are  you  bound  officially  to  arrest 
me "  —  "0  no  !  "  said  they,  and  laughed  ;  and  I  found 
that  the  Englishman  was  very  welcome.  So  I  stayed  several 
hours  with  them,  and  debated  on  politics.  I  found  in  these 
and  several  other  officers  more  respect  than  I  should  have  ex- 
pected for  Mr.  Pitt,  who  individually  is  fancied  to  be  all  in  all 
in  the  Cabinet ;  they  had  a  warm  zeal  for  France  as  France, 
without  much  care  about  its  immediate  government. 

This  spirit  of  patriotism  unquestionably  saved  the  nation. 
Could  Mr.  Burke  have  persuaded  the  people  of  France  that 
"  France  was  out  of  itself,"  the  affiiir  would  have  been  over. 
And  the  Revolution  owed  its  success  to  the  early  creation  of  a 
power  which  the  people  looked  up  to  as  its  head.  The  first 
Assembly,  by  calling  itself  the  National^  gained  the  nation  by 
the  word. 

In  the  progress  of  familiarity  I  begged  the  officers  to  tell  me 
how  I  stood  as  to  personal  safety.  They  said  unquestionably 
liable  to  be  arrested  every  moment,  but  not  in  any  great 
danger ;  there  were  parties  on  the  scout  to  pick  up  deserters 
and  examine  travellers.  Being  on  foot  I  should  likely  enough 
be  considered  a  native,  but  if  questioned,  as  I  had  no  passport, 
I  should  certainly  be  taken  before  the  Commandant  at  Mainz, 
and  they  did  not  advise  my  going  farther. 

I  did  not,  however,  take  alarm,  and  went  on  to  the  little 
town  of  Biebrich,  the  residence  of  the  Prince  of  Nassau.  Here 
I  was  very  civilly  treated  at  the  only  inn  in  the  place.  Next 
day  I  made  a  circuitous  walk  back,  taking  in  my  way  Wies- 
baden, a  small  neat  dull  curious  old  German  town,  famous 
only  for  its  hot  spring.  It  is  noteworthy  that  this  has  become 
one  of  the  most  fashionable  watering-places  in  Germany,  much 


1800.]  GERMANY.  51 

frequented  by  English  guests,  with  elegant  gambling-houses 
which  have  been  a  source  of  great  wealth  to  the  Prince. 

The  following  letters  will  give  some  idea  of  the  condition  of 
England  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century :  — 

T.  E.  TO  H.  C.  R. 

Bury,  December  18, 1800. 
I  cannot  forbear  speaking  a  word  or  two  on  the  situation  of 
our  own  country.  You  cannot  be  aware,  I  think,  to  the 
extent  in  which  it  exists,  of  the  distress  of  all  orders  of  people 
amongst  us  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  provisions.  The 
poor-rates  have  risen  to  an  unexampled  height,  —  they  have 
nearly  doubled  since  you  left  England.  The  present  rate  at 
Bury  for  the  quarter  is  seven  shillings  in  the  pound,  upon  an 
assessment  of  two  thirds  of  the  rental,  —  in  short,  as  much  is 
paid  to  the  poor  as  to  the  landlord.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  war  the  rate  with  us  was  not  more  than  1 5.  9  d,  or  2  s,  in 
the  pound.  The  burden  which  the  circumstances  have  laid 
upon  the  people  will,  I  imagine,  be  scarcely  credited  in  Ger- 
many, and  yet  the  situation  of  Bury  is  much  less  lamentable 
than  that  of  many  other  towns  in  the  kingdom.  The  alarm 
respecting  a  scarcity  is  so  great  that  Parliament  is  now  assem- 
bled by  special  proclamation  to  take  into  consideration  the 
best  means  of  relieving  the  nation  in  the  present  dearth. 
High  bounties  are  accordingly  offered  to  encourage  the  impor- 
tation of  grain,  and  various  plans  of  economy  are  recommended 
to  diminish  the  consumption  of  bread.  The  causes  of  the  dis- 
tressed state  of  the  country  are  a  subject  of  controversy  both 
within  and  out  of  Parliament.  The  Administration  are,  of 
course,  very  strenuous  in  maintaining  that  the  war  has  no 
share  in  it,  while  the  Opposition  as  loudly  attempt  to  prove  it 
is  the  principal  cause.  The  seasons  have  unquestionably  been 
very  unfavorable.  But  besides  these  palpable  reasons  an  idea 
has  been  set  afloat,  and  very  eagerly  caught  at  by  vast  num- 
bers of  people,  that  the  scarcity  is  to  be  chiefly  attributed  to 
monopoly.  As  a  disciple  of  Adam  Smith,  you  will  probably 
recollect  his  sentiments  on  the  subject.  He  compares  the 
dread  of  monopoly,  when  a  free  trade  is  allowed  in  so  bulky  a 
commodity  as  corn,  to  the  terror  of  witchcraft.  This  opinion, 
it  is  understood,  has  been  adopted  by  our  leading  statesmen, 
both  on  the  Ministerial  and  Opposition  side.    And  so  much 


52      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

has  this  opinion  prevailed  till  of  late,  that  I  understand  the 
old  statute  laws  relating  to  forestalling,  regrating,  &c.,  were 
some  few  years  since  repealed.  The  common  law,  however, 
still  remaining  in  force,  a  prosecution  grounded  upon  it  was  a 
few  months  since  commenced  against  Waddington,  a  great  hop- 
merchant,  for  monopoly,  and  another  against  a  contractor  for 
regrating.  On  one  of  their  trials  Lord  Kenyon  combated  the 
doctrine  of  Adam  Smith  ;  and  on  the  defendant  being  con- 
victed, warmly  applauded  the  jury  for  their  verdict,  and  said 
the  country  was  much  indebted  to  them.  He  was  followed  in 
this  opinion  by  the  greater  part  of  the  judges,  who,  on  the  en- 
suing circuit,  declaimed  against  those  hard-hearted  persons 
who  made  a  prey  of  their  fellow-creatures  by  withholding  from 
them  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  strongly  urged  the  magistrates 
to  be  vigilant  to  prevent  the  markets  being  forestalled.  In 
consequence  of  this  recommendation  associations  were  formed 
in  almost  every  county  to  carry  it  into  effect. 

Owing  to  these  proceedings  a  violent  clamor  was  excited 
against  corn-dealers  and  farmers,  which  being  joined  in  by  the 
mob,  artificial  scarcity  became  the  cry.  Farmers  were  threat- 
ened, and  their  barns  and  ricks  in  many  places  were  set  on 
fire  ;  this  has  been  particularly  the  case  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Bocking,  where  several  wilful  conflagrations  have  taken 
place  

January  27,  1801. 

....  The  times  continue  excessively  hard  with  us,  —  indeed 
the  cloud  of  evil  seems  to  threaten  more  and  more  every  day. 
Corn  rises  every  market-day,  and  indeed  alarm  is  spreading  in 
all  directions,  and  not  least  among  the  friends  of  the  adminis- 
tration. I  wish  not  to  dwell  upon  political  topics,  but  distress 
has  brought  them  home  to  everybody's  bosom,  and  they  now 
produce  all  the  interest  of  domestic  incidents.  With  the 
Funds  falling,  and  trade  very  precarious,  Mary  and  I  some- 
times talk  of  emigration,  —  but  where  to  go  is  the  question. 
France  is  the  only  country  which  to  my  mind  presents  any 
temptation.  The  language,  however,  is  an  insuperable  objec- 
tion. Buonaparte  seems  as  if  he  would  make  the  assumed  title 
of  great  nation  a  valid  claim,  and  I  fear  it  is  as  clear  that  the 
sun  of  England's  glory  is  set.  Indeed  I  am  become  quite  an 
alarmist,  which  I  believe  is  equally  the  case  with  the  demo- 
crat and  the  aristocrat.  Such  is  the  state  of  the  country  in  the 
prime  article  of  life,  flour,  that  the  millers  are  prohibited 
under  very  heavy  penalties  from  making  any  but  coarse  flour, 


1801.] 


GEKMANY. 


63 


and  instead  of  any  restraint  being  laid  upon  them  against  mix- 
ing of  grains,  encouragement  is  given  them  to  do  it.  Speaking 
on  the  state  of  the  country  the  other  day  to  Garnham,  he  ex- 
claimed, ''A  very  pretty  state  we  are  reduced  to,  —  our  pockets 
filled  with  paper  and  our  bellies  filled  with  chicken's  meat !  " 

March  9, 1801. 

....  If  you  have  noticed  in  the  papers  you  are  no  doubt  in- 
terested in  the  circumstances  of  Horne  Tooke  having  obtained 
a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  representative  of  the  fa- 
mous borough  of  Old  Sarum.  This  he  effected  through  the 
patronage  of  the  eccentric  Lord  Camelford.  A  very  interest- 
ing debate  is  expected  to-morrow  on  a  motion  of  Lord  Temple 
to  inquire  into  the  eligibility  of  a  priest  to  a  seat  in  Parlia- 
ment. Lord  Camelford,  it  is  said,  told  Lord  Grenville  that  if 
the  black  coat  were  rejected  he  would  send  a  black  man,  re- 
ferring to  a  negro  servant  of  his,  born  in  England,  whom  he 
would  qualify  to  take  a  seat. 

....  When  we  were  in  London  Mary  and  I  had  lodgings  in 
Newgate  Street.  The  theatre  was  the  only  anlusement  which 
interested  me.  We  were,  of  course,  desirous  of  seeing  the 
present  nine  days^  wonder,  Mr.  Cooke.  We  were  so  lucky  as 
to  see  him  in  Eichard,  his  favorite  character.  Nature  has  as- 
sisted him  greatly  in  the  performance  of  this  part,  — his  fea- 
tures being  strongly  marked  and  his  voice  harsh.  I  felt  at  the 
time  that  he  personated  the  ferocious  tyrant  better  than 
Kemble  could  have  done.  There  is  besides  a  sort  of  humor 
in  his  manner  of  acting  which  appeared  very  appropriate,  and 
which  I  think  Kemble  could  not  have  given  ;  and  I  think  it 
likely  the  latter  would  be  surpassed  in  Shylock.  Cooke's  pow- 
ers of  expression  are  strong  and  coarse.  I  am  persuaded  that 
in  dignified  and  refined  character,  —  in  the  philosophical  hero, 
—  he  would  fall  infinitely  short  of  Kemble.  He  had  the 
effrontery  to  play  the  Stranger,  but,  if  I  mistake  not,  he  ap- 
peared in  it  but  once  

Early  in  1801  I  became  acquainted  with  a  very  interesting 
and  remarkable  person,  —  Baron  Hohenfels,  the  Dom-dechant 
von  Speyer.  He  had  a  somewhat  quixotic  figure,  —  tall  and 
gaunt,  with  marked  features.  Though  careless  about  his  dress, 
he  had  a  distinguished  gait.  He  was  an  elderly  man  who  had 
been  for  many  years  chancellor  of  the  Elector  of  Treves,  and 
as  such,  had  he  continued  in  office,  would  have  been  the  Elec-* 


54      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 


tor's  successor.  He  was  also,  as  he  used  to  tell  me,  a  bishop 
in  partihus.  But  he  was  a  very  liberal  and  philosophic 
churchman,  and  preferred  a  life  of  literary  leisure.  He  had 
been  in  England,  to  which  he  was  warmly  attached,  and  had 
a  strong  liking  for  Austria.  Everything  French  and  Prussian 
he  hated  in  an  equal  degree.  To  the  Austrian  state  and  the 
Romish  Church  he  was  attached  politically.  He  was  living 
an  idle  life,  and  in  order  therefore  to  gratify  as  well  his  indo- 
lence as  his  taste  for  everything  English, — he  loved  our 
poets  not  less  than  our  politicians,  —  he  was  glad  to  have  even 
my  acquaintance.  We  frequently  walked  together,  and  he 
taught  me  much  by  the  questions  he  was  in  the  habit  of  put- 
ting to  me.  On  one  occasion  he  was  very  particular  in  inquir- 
ing what  the  Unitarians  believed.  What  did  Priestley  be- 
lieve %  On  my  mentioning  some  orthodox  doctrines  rejected, 
he  asked  "  Did  Priestley  believe  the  resurrection  1"  —  "  Yes." 
On  this,  with  a  very  significant  expression,  he  said  :  "  This  re- 
minds me  of  an  anecdote  of  Ninon  de  I'Enclos.  Being  asked 
one  day  by  a  Parisian  lady,  whether  she  believed  that  St.  Denys 
walked  all  the  way  to  Paris  with  his  head  under  his  arm, 
'  Pourquoi  pas.  Mademoiselle  It '  Ninon  said  ;  '  ce  n'est  que  le 
premier  pas  qui  coute.'  " 

The  Baron  was  more  fond  of  asking  than  of  answering  ques- 
tions ;  but  when  I  pressed  him,  he  did  not  shrink  from  a  reply 
which,  without  compromising  himself,  seemed  to  me  intelligi- 
ble. I  had  before  drawn  from  him  the  remark  that  Christianity 
is  a  great  fact,  —  that  the  fact  being  admitted  it  allowed  neither 
of  criticism  nor  of  argument ;  and  now  in  reference  to  the  claims 
of  Roman  Catholicism,  I  asked  whether  the  evidence  of  the 
later  miracles  was  as  strong  as  that  of  the  earlier.  His  answer 
was  again  in  the  form  of  an  anecdote  :  "In  the  time  of  Pope 

 there  were  some  saints  who  were  called  the  new  saints. 

On  one  occasion  his  HoHness  exclaimed,  *  These  new  saints 
make  me  doubt  the  old.'  You  will  excuse  my  not  giving  a 
more  direct  reply."  I  ought  to  add  that  some  years  afterwards, 
when  the  Baron  died,  he  left  all  his  property  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  at  Frankfort. 

I  had  not  known  this  interesting  man  many  days  before  he 
said  he  would  introduce  me  to  two  young  ladies  qui  jpetil- 
laient  d'espritP  These  were  Charlotte  and  Paulina  Serviere. 
They  were  persons  of  small  fortune  and  carried  on  a  little 
business,  but  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  families  in  Frankfort,  —  that  of  Brentano.  Char- 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


55 


lotte  Serviere  was  not  handsome,  but  was  attractive  to  me  by 
singular  good  sense  and  sweetness  of  disposition,  though  the 
latter  quality  was  generally  assigned  in  a  higher  degree  to  the 
younger  sister,  Paulina,  who  was  a  joyous,  kind  creature, 
naive,  sportive,  voluble,  —  liked  by  every  one.  In  their  house 
I  became  intimate,  and  there  I  soon  saw  the  ladies  of  the 
Brentano  family,  —  to  whom  I  was  introduced  on  the  very 
same  day  by  Mad.  de  la  Koche.  By  them  also  I  was  received 
as  a  friend.  Mad.  Brentano,  a  beautiful  Viennese,  the  eldest 
daughter  Kunigunda,  —  afterwards  the  wife  of  Savigny,  the 
great  Prussian  lawyer  and  statesman,  — were  my  present  com- 
panions. They  proposed  that  I  should  read  English  to  them, 
and  that  they  should  initiate  me  into  German  poetry,  in  other 
words  into  Goethe,  with  whom  they  were  personally  acquainted, 
and  of  whom  they  were  all  devoted  worshippers.  During  the 
first  four  months  of  1801  I  made  considerable  progress  in  the 
study  of  Goethe,  and  imbibed  a  taste  for  German  poetry  and 
literature,  which  I  have  always  retained. 

H.  C.  K.  TO  T.  K. 

Goethe  is  the  idol  of  the  German  literary  public.  The 
critics  of  the  new  school  assert  that  since  the  existence  of 
letters  there  have  been  only  four  of  those  called  geniuses,  on 
whom  Nature  and  Art  seem  to  have  showered  down  all  their 
gifts  to  form  that  perfection  of  intellect,  —  a  Poet.  Virgil, 
Milton,  Wieland,  Klopstock,  Ariosto,  Ossian,  Tasso,  &c.,  &c., 
are  singers  of  various  and  great  excellence,  but  the  sacred 
poetic  fire  has  been  possessed  in  its  perfection  only  by  Homer, 
Cervantes,  Shakespeare,  and  Goethe.  Nay,  some  of  this  new 
school  have  even  asserted  that  the  three  great  "  tendencies  " 
of  the  late  century  are  the  French  Revolution,  the  Fichtian 
Philosophy  and  "  Wilhelm  Meister's  Lehrjahre." 

This  valuable  addition  to  my  acquaintance  had  been  made 
only  a  few  days,  when  it  was  increased  by  that  of  the  brother, 
Clemens  Brentano,  —  then  known  only  by  irregular  ballads 
and  songs  inserted  in  a  very  irregular  novel,  but  a  poet  in 
character,  as  that  term  is  generally  understood,  and  a  man  of 
genius,  though  not  an  artist ;  and  after  many  years  the  author 
of  fairy  tales  which  brought  him  eclat.  He  was  on  terms  of 
intimacy  with  the  Schlegels,  Tieck,  and  others  of  the  romantic 
school  3  but  on  account  of  peculiarities  of  temperament  was 


56       KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


rather  difficult  to  get  on  with.  As  I  shall  have  little  to  say 
of  him  hereafter,  I  may  add  that  he  married  a  poetess  named 
Sophie  Mereau,  who  however  died  after  a  short  time.  Late  in 
life  he  took  a  religious  turn,  and  published  a  strange  book, 
professedly  relating  from  the  lips  of  a  diseased  nun  her  visions 
of  the  sufferings  of  Christ ;  but  the  Bishop  of  Ratisbon,  Seller, 
would  not  allow  the  work  to  be  printed  without  being  accom- 
panied by  the  declaration  that  the  visions  were  given  as  the 
pious  contemplations  of  a  good  woman,  and  not  as  preternat- 
ural revelations. 

Personally  I  had  more  to  do  with  a  younger  brother,  whose 
education  was  unfinished,  and  who,  learning  that  I  was  un- 
settled, proposed  that  I  should  accompany  him  on  foot  into 
Saxony,  where  I  could  go  on  with  my  study,  while  he  com- 
pleted his.  In  my  entirely  isolated  state  an  offer  much  less 
agreeable  than  this  would  have  been  acceptable.  I  should 
visit  a  country  which  I  longed  to  see.  Several  months  how- 
ever elapsed  before  our  plan  was  carried  into  effect.  In  the 
mean  while  I  pursued  my  studies  with  something  like  system ; 
devoting  myself  steadily  to  German  poetry  and  philosophy. 
All  my  vacant  time  was  spent  either  with  the  Servieres  or  the 
Brentanos.  The  manners  of  this  little  society  were  very  free 
and  easy  ;  and  my  character  as  an  Englishman  contributed  to 
my  being  treated  as  a  pet. 

Before  my  departure  I  made  a  short  journey  with  Herr 
Mylius  and  his  sister  Mad.  Kohl  to  Wetzlar,  —  a  town  of  some 
importance  because,  under  the  old  German  constitution,  it  was 
the  seat  of  a  court  of  appeal  from  courts  held  in  all  the  small 
states  of  Germany ;  in  other  respects  an  insignificant  place. 
The  noblesse  of  this  old-fashioned  ^'  free  city  "  were  the  big- 
wigs, the  lawyers.  Our  journey  lay  through  a  pleasing  coun- 
try, and  this  three  days'  excursion  made  me  acquainted  with 
the  simple  manners  of  a  people  who  seemed  to  belong  to  a 
former  age.  The  tribunal  has  been  abolished,  and  the  town 
no  doubt  lost  its  privileges  as  a  free  city. 

My  tour  with  Christian  Brentano  began  on  the  14th  of  June. 
Our  first  object  was  to  see  his  brother  Clemens,  who  was  then 
residing  at  Gottingen.  I  will  not  stop  to  give  particulars  of  any 
of  the  places  through  which  we  passed.  O.n  our  arrival  I  was 
received  with  kindness,  and  introduced  to  Clemens  Brentano's 
friends.  Of  these  the  principal  was  a  young  man  of  great 
promise,  —  a  poet  and  scholar.  He  lectured  on  poetry,  and 
strengthened  the  interest  I  already  felt  in  German  philosophy 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


57 


and  literature.  His  name  was  Winckelmann.  He  died  a  few 
years  later,  still  a  young  man.  It  was  he  who  first  distinctly 
taught  me  that  the  new  German  philosophy  —  in  connection 
with  which  Fichte  was  the  most  celebrated  living  teacher,  and 
Schelling  was  rising  into  fame  —  was  idealism.  Winckelmann 
urged  me  to  study  Fichte's  "  Wissenschaftslehre,"  which  he 
said  was  in  its  elements  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  Spinoza,  and 
Berkeley. 

These  two  days,  like  the  preceding  weeks,  served  as  a  hot- 
bed to  me.  In  my  letter  to  my  brother,  I  noticed  what  then 
was  a  novelty  to  me  :  "I  must  not  forget  a  curious  trait  of 
the  new  school.  They  are  all  poetico-metaphysical  religionists. 
Clemens  Brentano  declared  religion  to  be  '  philosophy  taught 
through  mystery.'  And  the  heading  of  one  of  Winckelmann's 
lectures  on  poetry  was,  '  the  Virgin  Mary  as  the  ideal  of  female 
beauty  and  perfection.' " 

Christian  Brentano  and  myself  next  proceeded  to  visit  the 
celebrated  mine  mountains  of  the  Harz,  belonging  to  Hanover ; 
and  some  of  our  Gottingen  friends  accompanied  us  a  day  on 
the  road.  We  stayed  successively  at  Osterode  and  St.  An- 
dreasberg.  At  this  place  I  gratified  my  curiosity  by  descend- 
ing a  mine,  learning  thereby  that  it  is  a  fatiguing  and  partic- 
ularly uninstructive  and  uninteresting  spectacle.  Generally 
speaking  I  know  no  sight  which  so  ill  repays  the  labor.  Two 
things  have  fixed  themselves  on  my  mind  :  first,  a  number  of 
men  in  narrow  slanting  passages  knocking  off  bits  of  soil 
mixed  with  metal ;  and,  secondly,  the  motion  of  boxes  up  and 
down  perpetually.  I  could  hardly  be  angry  with  the  vulgar 
inscription  of  an  English  "  my  lord "  in  the  album  :  "  De- 
scended this  d  d  old  hole." 

We  spent  a  night  on  the  Brocken  or  Blocksberg,  and  I 
ought  not  to  forget  when  mentioning  this  famous  mountain 
that  it  has  been  from  time  immemorial  the  seat  of  witch- 
craft ;  the  witches  of  the  Blocksberg  till  the  present  age  being 
the  most  illustrious  in  Germany.  The  historians  assign  a 
reasonable  cause.  The  region  of  the  Harz  was  the  very  last  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  and  the  heathen  religious  rites  were  for 
the  last  time  performed  on  the  Blocksberg.  When  the  coun- 
try was  at  last  subdued,  troops  were  stationed  in  the  principal 
avenues  up  the  mountain  to  prevent  the  natives  exercising 
unlawful  and  ungodly  ceremonies.  Some  of  the  more  zealous, 
however,  disguised  themselves  in  various  frightful  forms,  came 
at  midnight,  and  frightened  away  the  superstitious  soldiery, 
3=^ 


58       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 


•  Since  that  time  the  Brocken  has  been  in  ballads  and  old 
stories  the  scat  of    monsters,  hydras,  and  chimeras  dire." 

Passing  over  other  local  matters  which  afforded  me  much 
pleasure,  I  proceed  to  that  part  of  my  Diary  in  which  I  say  : 
We  had  this  day  entered  the  Saxony  which  Goethe  in  his 
**Wilhelm  Meister"  so  significantly  terms  den  gehildeten  aher 
audi  hildlosen  Theil  von  Deutschland,  We  lose  the  play  of 
words  when  we  render  this  "  the  cultivated  but  imageless  part 
of  Germany."  ^ 

While  I  was  staying  at  Frankfort  I  seldom  ventured  to 
speak  German  when  I  was  with  those  who  spoke  either  Eng- 
lish or  French ;  but  during  this  journey  I  made  as  it  were  a 
spring,  and  found  that  I  was  very  well  able  to  make  myself 
understood  in  the  language  of  the  country. 

The  place  at  which  Christian  Brentano  was  studying,  and 
at  which  I  was  for  a  time  to  reside,  was  Grimma,  a  small  town 
not  very  far  from  Leipzig  and  on  the  Mulde,  —  a  very  agree- 
able residence  for  a  student.  It  had  a  large  gymnasium  or 
Prince's  school,  one  of  the  feeders  of  the  Leipzig  University. 
The  mathematical  teacher  at  this  school  was  one  Topfer,  who 
received  Brentano  into  his  house.  The  family  lived  in  a  very 
plain  way,  and  I  was  kindly  received  by  them. 

The  chief  person  in  the  town  was  a  Mr.  Riese,  a  large 
manufacturer.  I  had  seen  him  at  Frankfort.  He  was  very 
attentive  to  me,  and  offered  me  the  use  of  his  house ;  but  I 
thought  lodgings  would  for  the  present  be  preferable.  My 
prospect  was  a  satisfactory  one.  I  had  access  to  Mr.  Biese's 
very  respectable  library ;  such  society  as  the  town  afforded 
was  open  to  me,  and  I  should  have  Brentano  as  a  frequent 
companion  in  my  walks,  f 

*  Goethe's  meaning  is  not  easily  understood  without  the  context.  The 
whole  sentence  is:  "Er  kam  in  den  gebildeten,  aber  auch  bildlosen  Theil  von 
Deutschland,  wo  es  zur  Yerehrung  des  Guten  und  Schonen  zwar  nicht  an 
Wahrheit,  aber  oft  an  Geist gebricht."  Carlyle  has  translated  this  as  follows: 
"  He  came  into  the  polished  but  also  barren  joart  of  Germany,  where,  in  wor- 
shipping the  good  and  the  beautiful  there  is  indeed  no  want  of  truth,  but 
frequently  a  grievous  want  of  spirit."  Bildlos  is  not  much  used  in  modern 
literature,  in  fact  Grimm  knows  only  this  instance  from  Goethe  besides  those 
which  he  gives  from  writers  of  the  16th  and  17th  centuries.  The  meaning 
according  to  him  is  imagine  carens.  Gebildet  corresponds  with  Wahrheit, 
find  bildlos  with  want  of  Geist.  If  so,  Goethe  meant  to  say  that  the  Saxons 
were  indeed  apt  to  acquire  knowledge  from  others,  but  were  wanting  in  origi- 
nal productiveness. 

t  Our  tour  seems  to  be  insignificant  on  the  map,  but,  with  all  our  devia- 
tions, was  not  less  than  sixty  German  miles,  at  least  300  English  miles.  Our 
expenses  together  nine  guineas;  deducting  therefore  what  I'sliould  have  paid 
at  Frankfort,  my  journey  has  cost  me  only  two  and  a  half  guineas.  And 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


59 


Of  the  two  months  passed  at  Grimma  at  this  time,  and  of 
the  short  period  I  spent  there  later  in  the  year,  when  I  took 
up  my  quarters  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Riese,  I  will  say  no  more 
than  that  I  was  very  happy,  and  began  to  read  Kant,  at  the 
recommendation  of  Topfer,  who  was  a  zealous  Kantianer.  I 
looked  also  into  the  writings  of  Jacobi. 

In  a  short  tour  which  I  made  by  myself  in  order  to  test  my 
power  of  finding  interest  in  solitary  travel,  I  availed  myself 
of  the  opportunity  which  offered  itself  of  visiting  a  Moravian 
establishment  at  Ebersdorf ;  and  I  had  a  great  deal  of  pleas- 
ure, —  the  pleasure  of  sympathizing  with  a  very  benevolent 
and  truly  Christian  society.  The  day  on  which  I  was  there 
was  Sunday,  and  I  heard  three  sermons  in  one  day  with  less 
than  usual  ennui,  and  was  introduced  to  the  well-bred, 
accomplished  presidentess,  Fraulein  Gerstendorf  Without  at- 
tempting to  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  constitution  of  these 
Moravian  institutions,  I  may  describe  them  as  a  kind  of  Prot- 
"  estant  monasteries.  They  are  distinguished  from  those  of  the 
Roman  Catholics  by  these  two  striking  features  :  First,  there 
is  no  compulsion  to  stay,  either  openly  enforced  by  the  law, 
or  through  a  vow  or  secret  understanding  binding  on  the  con- 
science. Any  one  may  leave  when  he  pleases.  Secondly, 
there  are  no  idlers,  —  all  are  workers.  The  unmarried  live 
together,  and  sleep  in  tw^o  huge  apartments.  Going  through 
these  tw^o  vast  dormitories  I  was  struck  by  their  perfect  clean- 
liness and  sweetness.  The  married  live  in  apartments  by 
themselves.  They  have  private  property,  and  have  few  or 
many  comforts  according  to  their  respective  means.  The  ser- 
mons I  heard  were  evangelical,  perhaps  Calvinistic;  but  in 
one  respect  contrasted  very  advantageously  with  our  English 
orthodoxy.  Little  importance  seemed  to  be  attached  to  doc- 
trine. I  heard  nothing  about  belieY,  but  a  great  deal  about 
love.  They  had  such  set  phrases  as  the  love  of  the  Lord," 
"  the  faith  of  the  heart."  I  would  add  that  this  is  in  perfect 
correspondence  with  Goethe's  confessions  of  a  beautiful  soul 
in  "  Wilhelm  Meister  " ;  and,  if  the  bringing  together  of  things 
so  unlike  may  be  permitted,  my  own  dear  mother's  written 
Experience  when  she  was  received  into  the  Wattisfield  church, 
in  which  there  is  nothing  about  theological  opinions,  but 

when  it  is  considered  that  we  included  in  our  tour  one  of  the  most  fashionable 
and  famous  resident  towns,  and  one  of  the  celebrated  districts  of  Germany,  it 
must  be  allowed  that  travelling  is  for  me  a  cheap  pleasure.  Thanks  to  my 
good  health  and  sound  limbs,  I  hope  to  see  a  great  part  of  Germany  and 
France  at  a  trifling  expense.  —  H.  C.  R.'s  Journal, 


60       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

much  about  love,  a  consciousness  of  guilt,  (fee.  It  occurred  to 
me  that  this  institution  seemed  to  come  nearer  to  an  apostolic 
body  than  any  I  had  ever  seen,  and  that  the  Gospel  age 
seems  to  have  had  no  presentiment  of  the  legal  and  political 
establishment  of  Christianity,  but  to  have  contemplated 
rather  a  multiplication  of  brotherhoods  resembling  these  of 
the  Herrnhuter.  The  founders  named  their  first  establish- 
ment in  Moravia  Herrnhut,  i.  e.  the  Lord's  heed  or  guard.* 

The  churchyard,  to  which  the  kind-hearted  attendant  who 
showed  me  about  the  place  took  me,  was  very  prettily  orna- 
mented with  shrubs  and  flowers,  and  I  was  much  struck  by 
the  unfeigned  joy  with  which  he  talked  of  death,  as,  with  a 
childlike  simplicity  and  almost  gayety,  he  jumped  on  the  grave 
in  which  the  remains  of  his  wife  had  been  recently  laid. 
Fraulein  Gerstendorf  was  a  woman  of  ability,  exemplifying 
the  compatibility  of  practical  wisdom  with  a  devout  spirit. 

At  Schneeberg  I  fell  in  with  Anton  Wall's  "  Amatonda,"  a 
fairy  tale  which  much  delighted  me.f 

At  Chemnitz  I  met  with  a  Welshman,  whose  history  in- 
terested me.  He  was  by  trade  a  watchmaker,  living  at  Holy- 
well, where  he  had  great  difficulty  in  supporting  his  wife  and 
three  children ;  but  he  was  a  mechanic  and  understood  the 

steam-engine.    Graf  was  then  travelling  for  the  Elector 

of  Saxony,  and  made  the  man  an  offer  of  a  fair  stipend  if  he 
would  leave  his  country.  "  I  know,"  said  he,  "  that  if  I  were 
to  attempt  to  go  back  to  England,  I  should  be  hanged ;  but  I 
do  not  want  to  go.  I  am  at  the  head  of  a  manufactory  here, 
and  my  employer  gives  me  £  200  per  annum,  besides  perqui- 
sites. My  wife  and  children  are  here.  Besides,  the  Elector 
has  given  me  a  bond  for  £  100  per  annum  during  my  life. 
The  only  condition  is  that  I  remain  in  the  country.  I  need  do 
nothing;  I  may  spend  my  time  in  a  public-house  if  I  like; 
I  should  still  be  entitled  to  my  hundred  a  year."  He  told  me 
of  several  persons  who  were  paid  for  living  in  the  country, 
with  a  perfect  freedom  of  action. 

On  the  day  on  which  I  expected  to  reach  Grimma'  an  agree- 
able incident  detained  me  at  Colditz.  It  was  late  in  the 
evening  when  I  fell  in  with  a  parish  clergyman,  who  having 
found  that  I  was  what  is  here  called  an  English  Gelehrter, 
and  bound  for  Grimma,  invited  me  to  take  a  bed  at  his  par- 

*  The  Colony  settled  at  the  foot  of  the  Hutberg,  or  pasture  hill.  The  name 
has  a  double  meaning,  —  Hut  signifying  "  guard  "  as  well  as  a  place  where 
flocks  are  guarded." 

t  This  tale  was  afterwards  translated  by  Mr.  Robinson. 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


61 


sonage.  He  had  a  name  singularly  in  contrast  with  his 
character,  —  Hildebrand  ;  for  he  was  very  liberal  in  his  opin- 
ions, and  very  anti-church  in  his  tastes.  We  had  many  hourfe' 
talk  on  subjects  equally  interesting  to  him  and  to  me.  He  gave 
me  an  account  of  the  state  of  religious  opinion  among  the 
Saxon,  i.  e.  Lutheran  clergy.  He  professed  himself  to  be  a 
believer  in  miracles,  but  evidently  had  no  unfriendly  feeling 
towards  the  free-thinkers,  whom  he  called  Naturalisten,  but 
who  are  now  better  known  imder  the  name  of  Rationalists. 
He  declared  that  their  ablest  men  were  Socinians,  if  not 
Naturalists.  On  my  saying  that  Michaelis's  "  Introduction  to 
the  New  Testament  "  had  been  translated  into  English,  he 
said  :  "  That  work  is  already  forgotten  here  ;  we  have  a  more 
learned  commentary  in  the  work  of  Paulus."  On  my  inquir- 
ing whether  the  clergy  had  no  tests,  "0  yes,"  he  replied, 
we  affirm  our  belief  in  the  symbolical  books  ;  but  we  have 
a  very  convenient  saving-clause  '  as  far  as  they  are  not  con- 
tradictory to  the  word  of  God.'  The  fact  is,  we  pay  very  lit- 
tle attention  to  the  old  orthodox  doctrines,  but  dare  not 
preach  against  them.  We  say  nothing  about  them."  This  I 
believe  to  be  true.  I  recollect  relating  to  my  host  the  retort 
which  Wilkes  is  said  to  have  made  to  a  Roman  Catholic,  who 
had  asked,  "  Where  was  your  religion  before  Luther  ? "  The 
answer  was,  "Where  were  your  hands  before  you  washed 
them  ] "  Hildebrand  said  that  that  very  retort  is  to  be  found 
in  one  of  the  pamphlets  published  in  Germany  at  the  time 
of  the  Reformation. 

During  my  tour  I  met  with  a  young  Saxon  nobleman,  Herr 
von  Carlowitz,  a  pupil  of  the  Fiirsten-Schule,  who  invited  me 
to  accompany  him  to  his  mother's  house.  This  plan  left  me 
so,  little  time  at  Grimma  that  I  was  barely  able  to  write  a  few 
letters  and  show  myself  to  my  friends. 

Falkenstein,  the  seat  of  young  Carlowitz's  mother,  was  only 
a  walk  of  about  four  leagues.  As  we  were  not  expected,  we 
found  no  one  but  the  servants  in  the  house.  In  the  evening, 
however,  came  my  lady,  with  friends,  who  were  staying  with 
her,  and  I  had  a  specimen  of  the  proverbial  stiffness  of  the 
Saxon  nobility.  She  was  a  stately  dame,  and  had  but  a  short 
time  back  been  beautiful ;  she  was  rich,  and  was  addressed 
with  formal  respect  by  all  about  her.  At  night  on  taking 
leave  every  one  kissed  her  hand,  excepting  .myself;  and  I 
omitted  the  ceremony  through  my  ignorance,  and  gave  of- 
fence.   At  supper  grace  was  said  in  verse. 


62       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 


My  intention  was  to  proceed  to  Dresden  and  Prague,  and  I 
reached  the  former  place  after  two  more  nights  on  the  way. 
I  was  dehghted  with  the  coup  dfoeil  from  the  bridge,  includ- 
ing noble  edifices,  and  the  views  up  and  down  the  river. 
There  was  also  a  stillness  which  soothed  me.  I  will  coi3y  a 
remark  or  two  I  made  at  the  time  respecting  the  impression 
made  on  me  by  Dresden :  One  sees  more  of  elegance  and 
the  amusing  formality  of  innocent  aristocracy,  than  of  the 
luxury  of  upstart  wealth.  One  is  neither  oppressed  by  gTeat 
ness,  nor  confounded  by  bustle.  Many  an  Excellency  ride^ 
in  a  carriage  which  in  London  would  be  thought  a  shabby 
hackney-coach ;  and  the  distinctions  of  rank  are  announced 
by  formal  appendages,  —  sword,  big  wig,  &c.,  not  costly  attire. 

"  The  most  famous  of  the  sights  of  Dresden  is  the  Grune 
Gewolbe,  or  Green  Vaults,  the  most  illustrious  warehouse  of 
jewelry  and  other  toys  in  the  world.  Augustus,  the  lavish 
and  the  strong  king  of  Poland,  was  the  founder  of  this  col- 
lection, consisting  of  all  sorts  of  things  wrought  in  ivory  and 
gold,  vessels  of  every  form.  I  saw  these  in  company  with  a 
French  lady  and  her  husband.  Her  raptures  rose  to  some- 
thing like  hysterics. 

"  The  picture  gallery  was  the  first  of  great  excellence  I  had 
ever  seen.  It  contains  the  picture,  which  now  that  I  have 
seen  all  that  Home  and  Florence,  Naples,  Venice,  and  Paris 
have  to  exhibit,  I  still  look  back  upon  as  the  one  which  has 
afforded  me  the  highest  delight,  —  the  Madonna  di  San  Sisto, 
or  Vierge  aux  Anges,  When  I  first  saw  it,  I  exclaimed  unin- 
tentionally, '  Looking  at  this,  it  is  possible  to  believe  the  Im- 
maculate Conception.'  The  Roman  Catholic  custode  who  was 
present  looked  offended,  with  no  reason.  I  possess  a  fine 
copy  of  Mailer's  engraving.  There  are  few  pictures  for 
which  I  would  exchange  it."^ 

^'  One  other  source  of  especial  pleasure  at  Dresden  was  an 
almost  daily  visit  to  the  Catholic  chapel,  for  church  music 
(though  I  am  insensible  to  ordinary  music)  I  can  enjoy." 

I  did  not  omit  to  make  an  excursion,  occupying  a  day,  to 
Pillnitz,  which  has  a  castle  of  doubtful  or  disputed  celebrity ; 

*  This  copy  of  Muller's  en^^ravini;  was  sfiven  by  Mr.  Robinson's  will  to 
E.W.  Field.  o       b         b  J 

This  picture,  unlike  all  Raphael's  other  altar-pieces,  is  painted  on  canvas, 
which  gave  rise  to  an  opinion,  strongly  contested  by  Professor  Hiibner,  Keeper 
of  the  Gallery  at  Dresden,  that  it  was  originally  intended  to  serve  as  a  Pro- 
cessional Banner.  The  picture  was  purchased  by  Augustus,  King  of  Poland 
and  Elector  of  Saxony,  from  the  monks  of  the  church  of  San  Sisto,  at  Pia- 
cenza,  in  1754,  for  about  £  10,000.  —  G.  S. 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


63 


it  being  still  a  question  whether  the  treaty  which  bears  the 
name  of  Pillnitz  was  ever  entered  into  among  the  gTeat  powers 
in  1792  to  partition  France. 

At  the  distance  of  a  few  miles  from  Dresden  is  a  knot  of 
little  valleys,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Saxon  Switzerland. 
This  district  is  about  fifteen  miles  in  length  and  two  or  three 
broad,  and  it  affords  in  miniature  every  variety  of  mountain 
and  valley  scenery.  The  first  place  I  came  to,  the  little  town 
of  Pirna,  detained  me  by  its  attractions.  I  had  parted  from 
my  young  companion,  and  was  left  here  to  myself  in  a  country 
so  beautiful,  and  in  an  inn  so  comfortable,  that  I  stayed  four 
days.  One  of  the  largest  rocks  in  this  neighborhood  is  the 
insulated  and  famous  Konigstein.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
rendered  impregnable.  Certainly  it  has  never  been  taken. 
During  the  long  French  possession  of  Germany,  Buonaparte 
could  never  obtain  possession  of  this  fortress  from  the  other- 
wise obsequioiis  King  of  Saxony,  w^ho  retained  it  as  a  place  of 
deposit  for  his  green-vault  and  other  treasures.  It  is  too 
small  to  hold  a  large  garrison,  and  therefore  might  be  spared 
by  Buonaparte.  Amidst  the  recesses  of  a  mountain  forest  is 
a  vast  mass  of  rocks,  some  eighty  feet  in  height,  with  a  natural 
cavity  or  hollow  called  the  Kuhstall  (Cowstall),  and  which, 
according  to  the  legendary  tales,  was  a  place  of  refuge  for  the 
Saxon  peasants  from  the  imperial  troops  during  the  Seven 
Years'  War.  It  might  well  be  so  now,  for  the  brushwood  and 
stunted  trees  would  render  the  passage  of  troops  impossible. 
This  wild  and  desolate  spot  I  crossed  ;  and  when  I  found  my- 
self again  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Elbe,  I  was  in  Bo- 
hemia. 

The  difference  between  a  Roman  Catholic  country  and  that 
I  had  hitherto  been  in  was  apparent  at  once  in  the  salutation 
of  the  peasantry.  Every  one  who  met  me  muttered,  "  Gelobt 
sei  Jesus  Christus "  (Praised  be  Jesus  Christ).  To  which  I 
invariably  answered,  "  In  Ewigkeit  "  (To  eternity).  "  Amen" 
was  the  rejoinder.  Then  the  ordinary  talk  about  weather  or 
inquiry  about  roads  followed.  Had  I  not  responded  like  a 
good  Christian,  I  should  have  had  no  other  greeting.  The 
first  night  I  slept  at  Teschen,  in  a  small  house  with  worthy 
people,  and  my  first  evening  in  Bohemia  is  worth  recording. 
I  have  often  told  the  story.  In  a  large  kitchen  lay  a  bedrid- 
den old  woman  near  the  fire.  She  began  questioning  me  : 
Are  you  a  Christian  V'  —  "  Yes."  —  A  Catholic  Christian  1 " 
The  landlord  came  up :  "  Don't  trouble  the  gentleman  with 


64       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

questions  ;  you  know  he  is  an  Englishman,  and  cannot  be  such 
a  Christian  as  we  are."  —  I  know  only  one  sort  of  Christian," 
muttered  she.  "  Why,  mother  !  don't  you  know  the  priest 
says  it  is  the  duty  of  everybody  to  remain  of  the  religion  they 
are  born  in  ] "  This  looked  like  indifference  at  least,  and  I  got 
into  talk  with  him.  I  asked  him  about  the  Hussites.  "  0, 
they  are  the  most  loyal  and  peaceable  of  all  our  people."  — 
"It  did  not  use  to  be  so."  —  "0  no!  they  were  always 
breeding  disturbances,  but  the  Emperor  Joseph  put  an  end  to 
that.  Their  priests  were  very  poor -and  lived  on  the  peasants ; 
one  man  gave  them  a  breakfast,  another  a  dinner,  another  a 
bed  ;  and  so  they  went  from  house  to  house,  beggars  and  pau- 
pers. When  the  emperor  came  to  Prague  to  be  crowned, 
among  the  decrees  which  he  issued  the  first  day  was  one  that 
the  Hussite  priests  should  be  allowed  the  same  pay  as  the 
lowest  order  of  the  Catholic  clergy.  And  since  then  we  have 
never  had  a  disturbance  in  the  country."  I  thought  then, 
and  have  often  said,  that  had  I  ever  been  in  the  House  of 
Commons  I  would  have  related  this  as  an  instructive  lesson 
on  the  Irish  priest  question. 

Next  day  I  dined  at  Aussig.  There  I  fell  in  with  a  travel- 
ler who,  finding  I  was  going  to  the  watering-place  Teplitz, 
recommended  me  to  a  private  lodging  at  the  house  of  an 
honest  shoemaker.    In  the  afternoon  I  was  there. 

Teplitz  is  a  small  but  beautiful  watering-place,  in  which  is  a 
chateau,  occupied  at  the  time  by  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  who  is 
known  as  the  friend  of  Madame  de  Stael.  In  this  very  agree- 
able little  spot  I  took  up  my  residence  for  six  days.  Here 
I  found  a  circulating  library  (prohibited  in  other  Bohemian 
towns),  and  in  the  beautiful  country  numberless  walks.  The 
season  for  drinking  the  waters  was  over,  so  that  I  found  my- 
self quite  in  retirement ;  but  the  residence  of  the  Prince 
afforded  me  an  unexpected  pleasure  the  day  after  my  arrival. 
I  was  told  that  there  was  an  amateur  theatre,  at  which  the 
Herrschaften,  the  noble  inhabitants  of  the  chateau,  performed ; 
and  to  which  any  one  decently  dressed  might  go,  —  the  nobles 
in  the  pit  below,  the  citizens  in  the  gallery  above.  I  pre- 
sented myself  at  the  door  of  the  pit.  "  Sind  Sie  adelig,  mein 
Herri"  (Are  you  noble  1)  said  the  doorkeeper.  ^'I  am  Eng- 
lish," I  said,  "  and  all  English  are  noble." —  "  I  know  it,  sir,'' 
he  replied,  and  opened  the  door  to  me.  This  I  said,  not 
meaning  a  joke,  for  everywhere  in  Germany  English  travellers 
are  treated  as  if  they  were  noble,  even  at  the  small  courts, 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


65 


where  there  is  no  ambassador.  No  inquiry  is  made  about 
birth,  title,  or  place. 

At  the  theatre  a  French  comedy  was  acted,  as  it  seemed  to 
me  with  perfect  good-breeding.  The  little  I  saw  in  this  per- 
formance of  the  Princess  and  the  rest  of  the  family  was  in 
harmony  with  the  character  they  possess  as  being  among  the 
most  amiable  and  respectable  of  the  higher  French  noblesse. 

I  lived  a  week  of  great  enjoyment,  —  a  sort  of  hermit's  life. 
My  breakfast  consisted  of  grapes  and  cream,  —  and  certainly 
I  never  lived  at  so  little  cost.  I  soon  formed  an  acquaintance 
with  a  young  man  —  a  Herr  von  Schall  —  who,  like  myself, 
seemed  to  have  nothing  to  do.  With  him  I  spent  my  days  in 
walking.  In  the  course  of  talk  he  used  the  expression  "  one 
of  my  subjects  "  (Unterthan).  "  Unterthan  ] "  I  exclaimed  ; 
"  why,  you  are  not  a  sovereign  ? "  —  "  Yes,  I  am,"  he  said ; 
and  then  he  explained  that  he  was  a  knight.  I  thought  he 
had  been  a  Suabian  knight,  but  my  journal  calls  him  a  Sile- 
sian.  According  to  the  now-abolished  old  German  constitu- 
tion these  knights  were  sovereigns,  though  they  might  be  very 
poor.  They  had  the  power  of  appointing  judges,  in  whom  was 
the  prerogative  of  life  and  death,  —  a  jurisdiction  the  knights 
could  not  personally  exercise.  I  did  not  stand  in  any  awe  of 
my  new  companion,  nor  did  he  claim  any  deference  on  account 
of  his  princely  dignity.  He  was  a  light-hearted  young  man,  as 
may  be  seen  by  an  anecdote  he  told  me  of  himself  A  few 
weeks  before  I  met  him,  he  had  the  misfortune,  on  his  way  to 
Teplitz,  to  be  robbed  of  his  purse.  He  was  forced  to  take  his 
portmanteau  on  his  back  and  bring  it  to  Teplitz,  selling  a  pair 
of  stockings  on  the  road,  in  order  to  get  food.  Arrived  here, 
and  not  expecting  a  remittance  for  some  time,  he  announced 
himself  as  a  painter,  being  an  amateur  artist.  He  waited  on 
Count  Briihl  with  his  papers  and  testimonials,  and  solicited 
employment.  The  Count  gave  him  a  miniature  to  copy  ;  this 
was  finished  in  a  day  and  a  half,  and  three  ducats  paid  for  it. 
He  went  home,  dressed,  and  in  the  evening  went  to  a  ball, 
where  he  met  his  employer  the  Count.  Von  Schall  spent  two 
ducats  that  evening,  —  worked  two  days  longer,  and  earned 
four  ducats  more.  He  then  received  a  remittance  from  home, 
shut  up  his  portfolio,  told  his  story  to  everybody,  the  ladies 
he  danced  with  included,  and  figured  away  as  one  of  the  beaux 
of  the  season. 

When  I  left  Teplitz  and  my  worthy  host  and  hostess.  Yon 
Schall  accompanied  me  over  a  mountain  till  we  came  within 

E 


66       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

sight  of  Lobositz  and  Leitmeritz,  when  I  entered  the  plains  of 
Bohemia.  I  slept  the  first  night  at  Budin,  a  poor  little  town ; 
but  I  met  there  with  a  sort  of  adventure  w^hich  I  have  often 
looked  back  upon  with  pleasure. 

I  was  inquiring  in  the  street  for  a  circulating  library,  —  an 
idle  inquiry,  by  the  by,  —  when  a  very  handsome  young  Jew 
came  up  and  offered  me  a  book  for  the  evening.  He  accom- 
panied me  to  the  inn,  and  was  my  very  agreeable  companion, 
but  would  not  suffer  me  to  treat  him.  He  had  a  fine  manly 
expression,  and  talked  with  great  freedom,  which  I  encouraged 
by  speaking  of  Moses  Mendelssohn  and  Lessing,  whom  he 
naturally  held  in  reverence.  He  seemed  to  have  a  taste  for 
free-thinking  books  ;  and  when  I  remarked  that  these  books, 
if  they  were  successful  against  Christianity,  must  be  still  more 
so  against  Judaism,  he  was  embarrassed.  He  professed  to  hold 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  highest  respect,  but  would  not  allow  that 
he  had  ever  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah.  "  Moses,"  he  said, 
"  if  his  claim  to  inspiration  be  waived,  must  still  be  allowed  to 
be  one  of  the  greatest  of  men."  On  my  asking  whether  the 
odium  frequently  cast  on  the  Jews  operated  as  a  temptation 
to  embrace  Christianity,  he  replied  :  "  You  forget  that  we  are 
brought  up  to  that,  and  that  we  are  trained  to  return  contempt 
with  hatred.  All  those  I  love  are  Jews.  Were  I  to  go  over 
to  your  church,  I  should  become  an  object  of  hatred  and  con- 
tempt to  all  I  love.  My  father  and  mother  would  die  of 
shame ;  and,  after  all,  by  the  respectable  Christians  converted 
Jews  are  more  despised  than  those  who  remain  firm.  Fortune 
has  made  me  what  I  am,  and  whatever  difficulties  my  religion 
may  have  I  know  of  none  better."  He  said  he  did  not  believe 
there  was  anything  miraculous  in  the  Israelites'  passage  of  the 
Eed  Sea.  This  young  man  lent  me  the  continuation  of  ^'  Na- 
than der  Weise."  The  title  of  this  continuation  is  "  The 
Monk  of  Lebanon,"  and  its  object  to  counteract  the  effect  of 
Lessing's  work. 

Next  day  eight  hours'  hard  walking  brought  me  to  Prague, 
—  an  imposing  city,  ancient  and  stately,  containing  70,000  in- 
habitants. I  have  seldom  seen  a  spot  so  striking  as  the  bridge 
over  the  Moldau,  with  its  thirty  high  statues.  The  view  from 
this  bridge  of  the  cathedral  on  the  hill  is  exceedingly  fine. 
But,  on  the  whole,  I  found  little  to  detain  me  at  Prague. 
Contrasting  its  churches  with  those  at  Dresden,  I  wrote  to 
my  brother  :  "  The  nine  paintings  in  the  Chapel  at  Dresden 
delight  the  eye,  —  the  hundreds  at  Prague  only  oppress  the 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


67 


senses,  —  the  more  so,  as  there  is  no  classification  or  harmony 
in  their  arrangement.  Old  paintings,  curious  perhaps  for  their 
antiquity,  are  paired  with  flashy  pieces  glaring  with  varnish. 
A  colossal  statue  stands  by  the  side  of  a  rotten  relic ;  in  one 
place  there  was  a  complete  skeleton,  the  skull  covered  with 
satin,  and  the  ribs  adorned  with  crimson  ribbon  and  tinsel. 

*  One  would  not  sure  look  frightful  when  one 's  dead.* 

Still  more  offensive  were  a  long  row  of  rotten  teeth.  Not  all 
the  objects,  however,  were  of  this  class.  At  the  high  altar  in 
St.  Nicolai  Church,  I  saw  four  colossal  statues,  not  less  than 
fourteen  feet  high.  They  impressed  me  solemnly,  and  I  recol- 
lected the  opinion  expressed  by  Wieland,  that  size  was  proba- 
bly the  great  charm  which  rendered  so  illustrious  the  Jupiter 
of  Phidias." 

On  my  way  back  to  Pirna  I  was  amused  by  the  slyness  of  an 
inscription  on  a  newly  built  wall.  It  was  in  verse,  and  its  im- 
port as  follows  :  "  This  house  is  in  the  hand  of  God.  In  the 
year  1793  was  the  wall  raised;  and  if  God  will  turn  my 
heart  to  it,  and  my  father-in-law  will  advance  the  needful,  I 
will  cover  it  with  tiles." 

I  found  I  had  still  unseen  beauties  to  explore  in  the  Saxon 
Switzerland.  Hohnstein  I  thought  among  the  finest  objects 
of  this  very  delightful  country. 

On  the  last  day  of  my  tour,  when  I  was  at  Hubertsburg,  I 
met  a  party  of  show-folk  and  pedlers,  and  was  treated  both  by 
them  and  the  landlord  as  if  I  were  one  of  them.  A  few 
months  before  I  had  dined  at  the  same  inn,  as  a  gentleman 
visitor  to  the  chateau.  Then  my  dinner  cost  me  Is,  2d,; 
now  I  paid  for  my  afternoon  luncheon,  supper,  bed,  and  break- 
fast. Is.  dd.,  —  a  difference  more  agreeable  to  my  pocket  than 
flattering  to  my  vanity.  But  travelling  on  foot,  I  found  that 
my  journey,  as  a  whole,  cost  me  only  a  trifle  more  than  I  paid 
for  my  ordinary  board  and  lodging  at  Frankfort. 

With  respect  to  the  society  in  this  district  —  the  cultivation 
and  manners  of  the  higher  classes  —  I  have  every  reason  to 
speak  favorably.  As  far  as  I  myself  am  concerned,  I  never 
before  experienced  from  strangers  so  much  civility  ;  and  my 
external  appearance  was  certainly  not  inviting,  for  I  went  as 
usual  in  black.  My  coat,  which  I  brought  with  me  from  Eng- 
land, had  necessarily  lost  much  of  its  original  brightness  ;  and 
it  was  rather  eclipsed  than  set  ofl"  by  velvet  pantaloons  and 
gaiters,  which  I  wore  out  of  convenience,  though  they  attracted 


68       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

now  and  then  a  smile  from  the  honest  villagers.  I  met  uni- 
formly with  civil  treatment  in  the  pnblic-houses,  where  I  was 
always  in  high  spirits,  and  by  my  gayety  generally  gained  the 
good-will  of  my  host  and  his  other  guests. 

T.  R.  TO  H.  C.  K 

Bury,  October  20, 1801. 
....  The  Peace  is  an  event  which  has  excited  a  tumult  of 
joy  such  as  I  never  before  saw  equalled.  The  effect  was  the 
stronger  as  the  event  was  totally  unexpected,  —  indeed,  for  two 
or  three  days  preceding,  it  was  totally  despaired  of.  The 
Funds  were  falling,  and  the  expectation  of  an  invasion  was 
very  general.  All  parties  are  therefore  willing  to  give  the 
Ministry  great  credit  for  the  secrecy  with  which  they  con- 
ducted the  negotiation.  The  demonstrations  of  joy  have  risen 
almost  to  madness.  Illuminations  have  been  general  through- 
out the  kingdom,  and  in  London  and  some  other  places  have 
been  repeated  several  times.  Last  Friday  we  illuminated  at 
Bury. 

The  papers  will  inform  you  of  the  reception  which  was  given 
by  the  London  populace  to  the  French  general  who  brought 
over  the  ratification  of  the  preliminaries.  It  is  said  that  "  Long 
live  Buonaparte  !  "  was  repeatedly  cried  in  the  streets  ;  and 
among  the  transparencies  exhibited  in  London  his  portrait  was 
shown  with  this  inscription  :  ^'  The  Saviour  of  the  WorldJ^ 
Indeed  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  change  of  style  in  the  gov- 
ernment newspapers.  The  ^'Corsican  adventurer,"  ^*the  athe- 
istical usurper,"  is  now  "  the  august  hero,"  "  the  restorer  of 
public  order,"  &c.  &c.  ;  in  fact,  everything  that  is  great  and 
good.  It  reminds  one  of  the  transformation  in  a  pantomime, 
where  a  devil  is  suddenly  converted  into  an  angel.  The  bless- 
ings of  peace  begin  already  to  be  felt.  An  abundant  harvest 
promised  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  price  of  provisions, 
but  the  fall  in  corn  has  been  rapid  beyond  example.  In  the 
course  of  about  eight  or  ten  weeks  wheat  has  fallen  in  our 
market  from  9  2  5.  to  305.  the  coomb,  and  it  is  expected  to  sink 
lower  

On  my  return  to  Grimma,  at  the  beginning  of  November,  I 
became  an  inmate  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Riese ;  and  there  I  re- 
mained during  the  winter.  I  spent  my  time  pleasantly,  partly 
in  reading,  and  partly  with  friends.    The  best  society  of  the 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


69 


place  was  freely  open  to  me  ;  and  at  about  this  period  I 
became  acquainted  with  a  very  remarkable  person,  of  whom 
there  is  an  account  in  the  Conversations-Lexicon,"  and  to 
whom  I  became  indebted  for  a  great  pleasure.  His  name  was 
Seume,  the  son  of  a  poor  woman  who  kept  a  public-house  near 
Leipzig.  She  meant  to  make  her  boy  a  parson,  as  he  was 
clever  ;  but  he  was  wild,  and  after  making  some  progress  in  his 
studies,  left  his  books  and  took  up  a  musket.  He  served  in 
the  American  war  as  a  private,  and  was  afterwards  a  non-com- 
missioned officer  among  the  Hessians.  He  then  went  to  the 
West  Indies,  and  at  length  entered  the  Russian  service,  —  was 
lieutenant  under  Suwarrow,  and  was  present  at  the  infamous 
storming  and  sacking  of  Praga,  near  Warsaw.  Meanwhile  he 
pursued  his  studies,  and  became  occasionally  a  tutor  to  young 
noblemen.  For  some  years  he  corrected  the  press  at  Leipzig. 
He  also  printed  some  volumes  of  poetry,  and  gave  lessons  in 
Greek,  English,  &c.  He  knew  almost  all  the  European  lan- 
guages. His  countenance  was  very  striking.  Herder  remarked 
to  me  that  he  had  the  physiognomy  of  a  Greek  philosopher. 
With  Seume  I  was  to  pay  a  visit  to  Weimar  and  Jena.  At 
Leipzig  we  were  joined  by  Schnorr,  whose  son  has  since  at- 
tained great  eminence  as  a  painter.  The  father  was,  I  believe, 
the  master  of  the  government  drawing-school  at  Weimar.  We 
left  Grimma  on  November  1 7th,  and  on  the  1 9th  I  visited  the 
most  famous  of  the  Flirsten-Schulen.  The  establishment  had 
150  scholars.  The  only  particular  I  thought  worthy  of  notice 
and  imitation  was  a  body  of  poor  students  called  collahorateurs, 
and  who  assist  the  more  wealthy  but  less  advanced  students, 
receiving  for  their  trouble  a  salary  of  200  dollars. 

We  arrived  late  the  same  day  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  Weimar ; 
and  the  two  next  days  belong  to  the  most  interesting  in  all 
my  life.  They  were  devoted  to  visits  to  the  most  eminent  men 
of  their  age  and  country. 

Our  first  call  was  at  the  house  of  the  aged  Wieland.  The 
course  of  my  late  reading  had  not  led  me  to  form  terrifying 
ideas  of  his  mental  greatness,  though  as  a  litterateur  he  is  one 
of  the  first  writers  of  his  country.  He  is  not  less  universally 
read  and  admired  in  Germany  than  Voltaire  was  in  France. 
His  works  amount  to  more  than  fifty  volumes,  all  written  for 
the  many.  He  resembles  the  French  wit  in  the  lightness  of . 
his  philosophy,  in  the  wantonness  of  his  muse  (though  it  is  by 
no  means  so  gross),  and  in  the  exquisite  felicity  of  his  style.  But 
he  surpasses  Voltaire  in  learning,  if  not  in  philosophy;  for 


7 0       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 


"VYieland  is  no  school-philosopher,  —  he  belongs  to  the  sensual 
school  of  Locke.  And  his  favorite  opinions  are  those  of  the 
common-sense,  sceptical  school.  He  is  a  sworn  foe  to  the  Kan- 
tian metaphysics,  and  indeed  to  all  others.  In  his  writings,  as 
in  his  person  and  manners,  he  is  a  perfect  gentleman.  He  re- 
ceived us  with  the  courteous  dignity  of  a  sage,  who  accepted 
without  hauteur  the  homage  of  his  admirers.  I  have  already 
printed  an  account  of  this  my  first  and  subsequent  interviews 
with  him  in  a  note  to  Mrs.  Austin's  "  Characteristics  of 
Goethe."  *  I  shall  in  substance  repeat  what  I  have  there  said. 
He  had  already  shrunk  into  the  old  man.  His  pale  and  deli- 
cate countenance  was  plain,  and  had  something  of  the -satyr  in 
it.  He  wore  a  black  skull-cap.  The  marble  bust  by  Schadow, 
which  I  have  the  good  fortune  to  possess,  is  an  exact  resem- 
blance of  him.  I  ventured  to  refer  to  his  philosophical  writ- 
ings, and  especially  to  his  ^' Agathodamon,"  which  gives  but  a 
sad  view  of  Christianity  and  its  influence  on  mankind.  In  this 
book  he  draws  a  parallel  between  Jesus  Christ  and  Apollonius 
of  Tyana,  whom  he  considers  as  alike  generous  enthusiasts, 
willing  to  make  use  of  superstition  in  order  to  teach  a  benefi- 
cent morality.  I  ventured  to  express  my  regret  at  the 
mournful  conclusions  at  which  he  had  arrived.  He  admit- 
ted that  his  hopes  of  any  great  improvement  in  mankind  were 
faint. 

To  refer  to  another  subject,  the  best  if  not  the  only  advan- 
tage which  in  his  judgment  may  be  expected  from  the  French 
Eevolution  is  the  promotion  of  the  fine  arts  and  the  sciences ; 
for  he  holds  the  French  nation  absolutely  incapable  of  forming 
a  Republic.  He  vindicated  the  administration  of  Buonaparte, 
and  did  not  censure  'the  restoration  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  What  he  said  on  this  point  is  worth  reporting  :  "  We 
Protestants  allow  ourselves  a  great  deal  of  injustice  and  ha- 
bitual falsehood  towards  the  Catholics.  We  forget  that  Roman 
Catholicism  is,  after  all,  real  Christianity,  and  in  my  judgment 
preferable  to  the  motley  things  produced  by  the  soi-disant 
Reformation.'' 

Speaking  further  of  the  Reformation,  Wieland  asserted  that 
it  had  been  an  evil  and  not  a  good ;  it  had  retarded  the  progress 
of  philosophy  for  centuries.  There  were  some  wise  men  among 
the  Italians  who,  if  they  had  been  permitted,  would  have  ef- 
fected a  salutary  reform.  Luther  ruined  everything  by  making 
the  people  a  party  to  what  ought  to  have  been  left  to  the 

Vol.  II.  p.  227. 


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


71 


scholars.  Had  he  not  come  forward  with  his  furious  knock- 
down attacks  on  the  Church,  and  excited  a  succession  of  horri- 
ble wars  in  Europe,  liberty,  science,  and  humanity  would  have 
slowly  made  their  way.  Melanchthon  and  Erasmus  were  on 
the  right  road,  but  the  violence  of  the  age  was  triumphant. 
It  is  needless  to  add  that  Wieland  is  a  supporter  of  national 
religion. 

He  spoke  with  great  feeling  of  his  wife,  who  had  died  a  few 
weeks  before.  I  help  myself  with  illusions,"  he  said;  ''he 
whom  I  have  once  loved  never  dies  to  me.  He  is  absent  only 
from  my  outward  senses ;  and  that  to  be  sure  is  painful. 
My  wife  was  my  good  angel  for  thirty-five  years.  I  am  no 
longer  young,  —  the  recollection  of  her  will  never  be  weak- 
ened." He  spoke  in  a  faint  half-whisper,  as  from  the  bottom 
of  his  throat. 

My  next  call  was  on  Bottiger,  —  a  very  laborious  boot-maker 
and  honest  fagging  scholar,  noted  for  his  courtesy  to  strangers, 
of  which  I  both  now  and  afterwards  had  the  benefit.  He  had 
a  florid  complexion,  and  seemed  to  be  in  the  possession  of  rustic 
health. 

My  companions  then  took  me  to  Professor  Meyer,  who  in- 
troduced us  into  the  presence  of  Goethe,  —  the  great  man,  the 
first  sight  of  whom  may  well  form  an  epoch  in  the  life  of  any 
one  who  has  devoted  himself  seriously  to  the  pursuit  of  poetry 
or  philosophy. 

I  had  said  to  Seume  that  I  wished  to  speak  with  Wieland, 
and  look  at  Goethe,  —  and  I  literally  and  exactly  had  my  de- 
sire. My  sense  of  his  greatness  was  such  that,  had  the  oppor- 
tunity ofiered,  I  think  I  should  have  been  incapable  of  entering 
into  conversation  with  him ;  but  as  it  was,  I  was  allowed  to 
gaze  on  him  in  silence.  Goethe  lived  in  a  large  and  handsome 
house,  —  that  is,  for  Weimar.  Before  the  door  of  his  study 
was  marked  in  mosaic,  SALVE.  On  our  entrance  he  rose,  and 
with  rather  a  cool  and  distant  air  beckoned  to  us  to  take  seats. 
As  he  fixed  his  burning  eye  on  Seume,  who  took  the  lead,  I  had 
his  profile  before  me,  and  this  was  the  case  during  the  whole 
of  our  twenty  minutes'  stay.  He  was  then  about  fifty-two 
years  of  age,  and  was  beginning  to  be  corpulent.  He  was,  I 
think,  one  of  the  most  oppressively  handsome  men  I  ever  saw. 
My  feeling  of  awe  was  heightened  by  an  accident.  The  last 
play  which  I  had  seen  in  England  was  "  Measure  for  Measure," 
in  which  one  of  the  most  remarkable  moments  was  when  Kem- 
ble  (the  Duke),  disguised  as  a  monk,  had  his  hood  pulled  off 


72       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

by  Lucio.  On  this,  Kemble,  with  an  expression  of  wonderful 
dignity,  ascended  the  throne  and  dehvered  judgment  on  the 
wrongdoers. 

Goethe  sat  in  precisely  the  same  attitude,  and  I  had  precisely 
the  same  view  of  his  side-face.  The  conversation  was  quite 
insignificant.  My  companions  talked  about  themselves,  — 
Seume  about  his  youth  of  adversity  and  strange  adventures. 
Goethe  smiled,  with,  as  I  thought,  the  benignity  of  condescen- 
sion. When  we  were  dismissed,  and  I  was  in  the  open  air,  I  . 
felt  as  if  a  weight  were  removed  from  my  breast,  and  exclaimed, 
"  Gott  sei  Dank  !  "  Before  long  I  saw  him  under  more  favora- 
ble auspices ;  but  of  that  hereafter. 

Goethe  has  been  often  reproached  for  his  hauteur^  and 
Burger  made  an  epigram  which  the  enviers  and  revilers  of 
the  great  man  were  fond  of  repeating.  I  believe,  however, 
that  this  demeanor  was  necessary  in  self-defence.  It  was  his 
only  protection  against  the  intrusion  which  would  otherwise 
have  robbed  him  and  the  world  of  a  large  portion  of  his  life. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  T.  E. 

Goethe's  "  Iphigenia  in  Tauris  "  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect 
drama  ever  composed.  I  have  read  it  three  times  within  a 
month,  and  believe  it  has  not  a  faulty  line.  W.  Taylor  has 
translated  it.  Do  lay  out  half  a  crown  on  my  judgment,  — 
fancy  Mrs.  Siddons  to  be  Iphigenia,  —  and  you  will  feel  that 
she  is  the  most  perfect  ideal  of  the  female  character  ever  con- 
ceived, rivalling  in  that  point  of  view  even  Milton's  Eve.  You 
will  admire  the  solemn  repose,  the  celestial  tranquillity  of  her 
character,  as  well  as  of  the  events  themselves ;  and  this  is,  in 
my  mind,  the  characteristic  of  Goethe.  His  better  and  more 
perfect  works  are  without  disorder  and  tumult,  — they  resem- 
ble Claude  Lorraine's  landscapes  and  Raphael's  historical 
pieces.  Goethe's  Songs  and  Ballads  and  Elegies  all  have  the 
same  character ;  his  Ballads  in  particular  have  a  wildness  of 
fancy  which  is  fascinating,  but  without  turbulence.  No  hurry- 
scurry,  *as  in  Biirger's  ^'Leonora."  Apropos,  I  believe  you  will 
find  in  Monk  Lewis  a  translation  of  a  ballad  called  the  "  Erl- 
King," — hunt  for  it  and  read  it.  Goethe  knows  his  own 
worth.  In  the  whole  compass  of  his  works  I  believe  not  a 
single  preface,  or  an  article  in  which  he  speaks  of  him- 
self, is  to  be  found,  —  it  is  enough  that  his  works  are 
there  


1801.] 


GERMANY. 


73 


The  same  evening  I  had  an  introduction  to  one  who  in  any- 
place but  Weimar  would  have  held  the  first  rank,  and  who  in 
his  person  and  bearing  impressed  every  one  with  the  feeling 
that  he  belonged  to  the  highest  class  of  men.  This  was  Her- 
der. The  interview  was,  if  possible,  more  insignificant  than 
that  with  Goethe,  —  partly,  perhaps,  on  account  of  my  being 
introduced  at  the  same  time  with  a  distinguished  publicist,  to 
use  the  German  term,  the  eminent  political  writer  and  states- 
man Friedrich  Gentz,  the  translator  of  Burke  on  the  French 
Ee volution,  author  of  several  Austrian  state  papers  against 
France,  and  the  great  literary  advocate  of  the  Austrian  cause. 
I  naturally  kept  in  the  background,  contenting  myself  with 
delivering  a  letter  which  Madame  de  la  Roche  had  given  me. 
But  Herder  sent  for  me  next  day.  He  had  a  fine  clerical 
figure,  and  reminded  me  of  Dr.  Geddes.  His  expression  was 
one  of  great  earnestness.  Though  he  filled  the  highest  eccle- 
siastical office  the  little  state  of  Weimar  afibrded,  yet  the 
greatness  of  Goethe  seemed  to  throw  him  into  the  shade ;  and 
this,  perhaps,  prevented  him  from  appreciating  Goethe's  genius. 
For  the  present  T  shall  content  myself  with  saying  that  we 
had  some  controversial  talk,  —  I  not  assenting  to  his  con- 
temptuous judgment  of  the  English  lyric  poets,  and  he  de- 
claring the  infinite  superiority  of  Klopstock's  Odes  to  all  that 
Gray  and  Collins  had  ever  written.  We  talked  also  about  our 
English  philosophers,  and  he  gave  me  a  shake  of  the  hand  for 
my  praise  of  Hartley.    Herder  was  a  partisan  of  Locke. 

Before  I  left  Weimar  I  called  on  the  one  other  great  poet, 
Schiller,  of  whom  unhappily  I  have  as  little  to  say  as  of  the 
others.  Indeed  we  were  with  him  but  a  few  minutes.  I  had 
just  time  to  mention  Coleridge's  translation  of  Wallenstein, 
of  which  he  seemed  to  have  a  high  opinion.  The  translator 
was  a  man  of  genius,  he  said,  but  had  made  some  ridiculous 
mistakes.  Schiller  had  a  wild  expression  and  a  sickly  look  ;  and 
his  manners  were  those  of  one  who  is  not  at  his  ease.  There 
was  in  him  a  mixture  of  the  wildness  of  genius  and  the  awkward- 
ness of  the  student.    His  features  were  large  and  irregular. 

On  Saturday  night  we  went  to  the  theatre,  where  I  saw 

Wallensteins  Tod  "  performed  in  the  presence  of  the  author. 
Schlegel  somewhere  says  :  "  Germany  has  two  national  theatres, 
—  Vienna  with  a  public  of  50,000  spectators,  Weimar  with  a 
public  of  50."  The  theatre  was  at  this  time  unique  ;  its  man- 
agers were  Goethe  and  Schiller,  who  exhibited  there  the  works 
which  were  to  become  standards  and  models  of  dramatic  litera- 

VOL.  I.  4 


74       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  5. 

ture.  Schiller  had  his  seat  near  the  ducal  box,  Goethe  an 
arm-chair  in  the  centre  of  the  first  row  of  the  pit.  In  general, 
theatres,  whatever  their  size  and  beauty  may  be,  are  after  all 
mere  places  where  people,  instead  of  sitting  to  enjoy  them- 
selves at  their  ease,  are  crowded  together  to  see  something  at 
a  distance,  and  it  is  considered  a  sort  of  infringement  on  the 
rights  of  others  to  take  knee  or  elbow  room.  Here,  on  the 
contrary,  I  found  myself  in  an  elegant  apartment,  so  lightly  and 
classically  adorned,  and  so  free  and  easy  in  its  aspect,  that  I 
almost  forgot  where  I  was.  In  the  pit  the  seats  aire  all  num- 
bered, each  person  has  his  own,  and  each  seat  has  arms.  The 
single  row  of  boxes  is  supported  by  elegant  pillars,  under  which 
the  pit  loungers  stroll  at  pleasure.  The  boxes  have  no  divis- 
ion except  in  front.  They  are  adorned,  too,  by  elegant  pil- 
lars, and  are  open  below ;  instead  of  the  boards  commonly 
placed  in  front  are  elegant  iron  palisades.  There  are  no  fixed 
seats,  only  chairs,  all  of  which,  in  front,  are  occupied  by  ladies. 
The  gentlemen  go  into  the  pit  when  they  do  not,  as  courteous 
cavaliers,  wait  behind  the  chairs  of  their  fair  friends.  The 
box  in  front  is  occupied  by  the  Duke  and  Duchess  with  their 
suite,  of  course  without  the  dull  formality  attending  a  Royal 
presence  at  Drury  Lane.  I  beheld  Schiller  a  great  part  of  the 
evening  leaning  over  the  ducal  box  and  chatting  with  the  fam- 
ily. In  the  performance  of  this  evening,  I  was  pleased  with 
Graff  as  the  representative  of  the  hero,  and  with  Mademoi- 
selle Jagermann  as  Thekla.  She  was  a  graceful  and  beautiful 
creature,  the  first  actress  of  the  company. 

One  other  noted  character  we  visited,  —  the  one  who,  ac- 
cording to  William  Taylor  of  Norwich,  was  the  greatest  of  all. 
This  was  August  von  Kotzebue,  the  very  popular  dramatist, 
whose  singular  fate  it  was  to  live  at  variance  with  the  great 
poets  of  his  country  while  he  was  the  idol  of  the  mob.  He 
was  at  one  time  (about  this  time  and  a  little  later)-  a  favorite 
in  all  Europe.  One  of  his  plays,  "  The  Stranger,"  I  have 
seen  acted  in  German,  English,  Spanish,  French,  and  I  believe 
also  Italian.  He  was  the  pensioner  of  Prussia,  Austria,- and 
Russia.  The  odium  produced  by  this  circumstance,  and  the 
imputation  of  being  a  spy,  are  assigned  as  the  cause  of  his 
assassination  by  a  student*  of  Jena  a  few  years  after  our  visit. 
He  was  living,  like  Goethe,  in  a  large  house  and  in  style.  I 
drank  tea  with  him,  and  found  him  a  lively  little  man  with 
small  black  eyes.  He  had  the  manners  of  a  petit  mattre.  He 
was  a  married  man  with  a  large  family,  and  seemed  to  be  not 


T801.] 


GERMANY. 


75 


without  the  domestic  feehngs  which  he  has  so  successfully 
painted  in  his  works.  We  were  ushered  through  a  suite  of 
rooms  by  a  man-servant,  and  found  Mr.  President  in  state. 
Nor  is  it  unworthy  of  remark  that  his  house  had  thirty-seven 
windows  in  front.  Indeed,  the  comfortable  style  in  which  all 
the  poets'I  have  mentioned  lived  would  make  me  imagine  the 
poet's  fate  must  be  singularly  good  in  Germany,  if  I  did.  not 
recollect  that  those  I  saw  were  the  prime  and  elect  of  the 
German  geniuses,  —  the  favorites  and  idols  of  their  nation. 
Wieland  and  Goethe  both  gained  a  fortune  by  their  writings, 
and  Schiller  supported  himself  entirely  by  his  pen. 

Weimar*  is  an  insignificant  little  town,  without  an  object 
of  beauty  or  taste  but  its  park ;  and  even  that  among  parks 
has  no  great  excellence.  It  has  been  immortalized  by  many  a 
passage  in  Goethe's  poems.  His  house  will  no  doubt  be  pre- 
served for  the  sake  of  its  associations,  and  so  probably  will  be 
the  residences  of  the  other  chief  poets.  These,  alas,  have 
all  passed  away  !  f 

On  Sunday,  amid  snow  and  rain  and  wind,  we  left  the  seat 
of  the  Muses  for  the  school  of  the  philosophers,  —  Weimar 
for  Jena.  The  University  at  the  latter  place  has  all  the  ad- 
vantage of  site,  lying  in  a  beautiful  valley.  The  town  itself, 
as  approached  from  Weimar,  looked  interesting  and  promising 
as  we  descended  the  winding  road  called  the  Snake,  but  within 
it  is  a  beggarly  place.  I  at  once  made  use  of  a  strange  letter 
of  introduction  given  me  at  Gottingen  by  Winckelmann  to  a 
student  here,  —  a  character,  —  one  KoUe,  who,  having  passed 
through  the  ordinary  years  of  study,  continued  to  live  here  at 
the  least  possible  expense,  sauntering  his  time  a\N^y,  but  by 
his  conversation  amusing  and  instructing  others.  He  re- 
ceived me  very  cordially,  though  my  introduction  consisted 
only  of  my  name  with  some  verses  from  Goethe.  Kolle  took 
me  to  a  concert-room,  where  I  saw  the  students  in  genteeler 
trim  than  I  had  seen  before.  His  enthusiastic  talk  about  the 
poets  and  philosophers  awakened  in  me  the  desire,  which  was 
afterwards  gratified,  of  residing  among  them.  We  soon  left 
Jena,  and  my  companions,  Seume  and  Schnorr,  set  out  on  that 
"  Spaziergang  nach  Syrakus,"  an  account  of  which  was  pub- 
lished. Seume  in  the  first  sentence  says  :  A  few  kind  friends 
accompanied  us  a  short  distance."    I  was  one  of  those  friends. 

,  *  A  very  interesting  and  detailed  description  of  Weimar  as  it  appeared  in 
.the  eighteenth  century  -will  be  found  in  G.  H.  Lewes's  "Life  of  Goethe,'* 
Vol.  1.  p.  311. 
-  t  Written  in  1847. 


76      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GERMANY.  1802. 

I  FINALLY  left  Grimma  on  May  4,  1802.  Brentano  had 
finished  his  preparatory  studies  for  the  University,  and 
wished  me  to  accompany  him  to  Frankfort.  We  intended  to 
have  gone  thither  by  Carlsbad,  but  on  my  applying  to  Mr. 
Elliott  for  a  certificate  that  I  was  an  Englishman,  he  refused  it 
very  civilly  on  the  ground  that  I  had  not  a  single  letter  or 
paper  to  corroborate  my  declaration.  He  said  he  had  no  doubt 
that  I  was  what  I  declared  myself  to  be,  and  he  would  speak 
in  my  behalf  to  the  proper  authorities.  But  Brentano  objected 
to  the  delay,  and  we  therefore  changed  our  route,  and  took  the 
opportunity  of  visiting  some  romantic  scenes  among  the 
Fichtelgebirge,  or  Fir  Mountains,  the  birthplace  of  Jean  Paul 
Richter.  Here  are  some  very  curious  rocks,  well  known  and 
celebrated  by  travellers  in  search  of  the  picturesque.  Houses 
of  entertainment  have  been  erected,  and  are  adorned  with  ar- 
bors, which  are  furnished  with  inscriptions.  On  a  lofty  rock, 
under  which  there  is  a  rich  spring,  there  are  two  hexameters, 
which  I  thus  translated  :  — 

"  Here  from  the  rock's  deep  recesses,  the  nymph  of  the  fount  pours  her 

treasures  ; 

Learn,  0  man,  so  to  give,  and  so  to  conceal,  too,  the  giver." 

On  our  ^rival  at  Ansbach,  which  had  recently  been  brought 
under  the  dominion  of  Prussia,  we  found  in  the  peasantry  an 
antipathy  to  the  new  government,  on  account  of  their  becom- 
ing subject  to  military  conscription,  from  which  the  subjects  of 
the  ecclesiastical  states  and  of  the  small  German  princes  were 
free.  I  could  not  but  notice  that  the  peasants  under  the  eccle- 
siastical princes  were  unquestionably,  in  general,  in  a  far  better 
condition  than  those  under  the  secular  Protestant  princes. 
The  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  had  certainly  the  advantage  in 
intelligence,  but  they  had  worse  bread  and  less  meat  than 
their  superstitious  brethren,  who  doffed  the  hat  at  the  wayside 
shrines  and  repeated  the  Pater  Noster  and  Ave  Maria  three 
times  a  day.  It  was  my  observation  on  this  and  subsequent 
occasions  that  the  peasantry  in  the  bishoprics  of  Bamberg  and 
Wurzburg  appeared  to  be  in  a  state  of  more  ease  and  comfort 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


77 


than  any  I  saw  in  Germany,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  Saxon 
peasants  in  the  Mine  mountains. 

In  passing  through  the  University  town  of  Erlangen,  I  was 
pleased  with  the  gentlemanly  appearance  of  the  students, 
though  they  had  not  the  dashing  impudence  of  the  Cantabs  or 
Oxonians.  We  supped  at  the  head  inn,  where  there  were 
about  fifty  young  men.  Our  polite  host  placed  me  by  the  side 
of  Professor  Abicht,  and  I  was  again  struck  by  the  concurrence 
of  opinion  among  the  German  philosophers  as  to  the  transcen- 
dent genius  of  Shakespeare,  Goethe,  and  Dante,  —  the  triple 
glory  of  modern  poetry,  and  by  the  diversity  of  opinion  as  to 
the  great  principles  of  metaphysics.  Abicht  was  the  first 
German  whom  I  had  heard  avow  belief  in  Priestleyan  neces- 
sity. 

I  also  visited  Nuremberg,  famous  for  the  manufactory  of 
toys  ;  and  itself  one  of  the  most  curious  and  national  of  cities. 
On  the  morning  after  our  arrival,  I  arose  early  and  walked  out 
of  the  gates,  and  on  my  return  was  arrested  by  the  guard  ; 
who  ordered  me  to  accompany  him  to  the  Governor.  I  ob- 
served that  he  carried  some  irons  in  his  hand.  The  Governor 
received  me  courteously,  examined  my  pass,  asked  me  a  few 
questions,  and  finding  I  was  at  the  principal  inn,  dismissed  me 
with  the  assurance  that  he  was  satisfied  that  I  was  an  Ehren- 
mann  (as  we  should  say,  a  gentleman) ;  "  though,"  he  added, 
"  the  sentinel  was  not  to  blame."  In  the  course  of  the  day  he 
sent  a  powdered  lackey  to  me  with  the  message  that  he  hoped 
I  should  not  think  worse  of  the  city  for  what  had  happened. 
I  asked  the  servant  to  explain  the  cause  of  my  arrest,  and  he 
showed  me  a  hue  and  cry  after  a  merchant  who  had  become  a 
fraudulent  bankrupt  and  fled.  The  signalement  stated  that 
the  fugitive  had  on  pantaloons  and  cloth  gaiters  ! 

At  BischofFsheim,  where  Brentano  had  been  at  school,  I  was 
amused  by  the  cordial  simplicity  with  which  the  old  women 
greeted  him  whom  they  had  known  as  little  Christian"  ;  one 
old  woman  exclaiming  perpetually,  "  0  thou  holy  Mother  of 
God  !  0  thou  holy  Antonius  of  Padua ! "  Another  good 
creature  said  she  had  never  forgotten  to  pray  for  him,  but  now 
that  he  had  visited  her,  she  would  do  it  ten  times  oftener.  I 
c«uld  not  but  notice  that  Catholic  piety  seemed  more  lively  as 
well  as  more  poetical  than  Calvinistic.  I  saw  here  in  a  poor 
cottage  an  edifying  book,  which  delighted  me  by  the  beautiful 
simplicity  of  its  style.  It  was  entitled  "  Gnadenbilder " 
(Grace-working  Images),  and  was  a  collection  of  tales  of  mira- 


7d       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


cles  wrought  by  images.  The  facts  were  briefly  stated,  with 
no  assertion  of  their  truth,  and  no  dogma  or  imprecation 
against  unbeUevers  ;  and  each  tale  had  its  prayer.  The  prayers 
addressed  to  the  Virgin  were  in  a  style  of  naive  and  simple 
affection,  quite  touching ;  such  as,  "0  thou  chaste  Dove, 
who  feddest  with  holy  crumbs  the  heavenly  Babe !  "  —  "0 
thou  pure  Swan,  who  sailest  on  the  lake  of  Divine  Grace  !  "  — 
"  0  thou  Arch  of  triumph,  through  which  alone  the  Lord  of 
Glory  was  permitted  to  pass  !  "  Brentano  afterwards  became  a 
zealous  Romanist,  and  perhaps  the  circumstances  of  his  early 
education  had  something  to  do  with  this  change. 

In  a  certain  sense,  many  of  us  mutilate  the  mind  and  ren- 
der it  impotent,  for  there  is  in  the  nature  of  man  an  irresist- 
ible tendency  to  religion ;  it  is  founded  in  our  wants  and 
passions,  in  the  extent  of  our  faculties,  in  the  quality  of  mind 
itself.  Akenside's  description  of  the  untired  soul  darting 
from  world  to  world  is  a  noble  image  of  the  restless  longing 
of  the  mind  after  God  and  immortality.  The  stronger  his  I 
sensibility,  the  more  exalted  his  imagination,  the  more  pious 
will  every  man  be.  And  in  this  inherent  and  essential  quality 
of  our  minds  can  we  alone  account  for  the  various  absurd  and 
demonstrably  false  dogmas  believed  so  honestly  and  zealously 
by  some.  Men  run  headlong  into  superstition  in  the  same 
way  as  young  boys  and  girls  run  into  matrimony. 

On  reaching  Frankfort  I  took  up  my  abode  there  for  a  short 
time,  and  enjoyed  the  renewal  of  the  society  of  the  Servieres, 
the  Brentanos,  and  other  former  friends.  The  only  incident  I 
have  to  mention  is,  that  once  or  twice  I  was  in  the  company 
of  Frau  Rathinn  Goethe,*  who  is  almost  an  historic  character 
through  the  supreme  eminence  of  her  son.  She  had  the  mien 
and  deportment  of  a  strong  person.  This  impression  of  her  is 
confirmed  by  the  anecdotes  related  of  her  in  the  "  Briefwechsel 
von  Goethe  mit  einem  Kinde,"  and  indeed  by  every  account 
of  her.  She  spoke  of  her  son  with  satisfaction  and  pride.  In 
the  course  of  her  conversation  she  remarked,  that  Werter  is 
not  in  the  beginning  the  Werter  of  the  end,  and  that  it  is 
only  in  the  latter  part  of  the  work  he  may  be  said  to  repre- 
sent Jerusalem,  —  a  young  man  who  really  killed  himself  be- 
cause he  received  an  affront  in  public.  She  spoke  also  of  the 
origin  of  "  Gotz  von  Berlichingen."  Her  son  came  home  one 
evening  in  high  spirits,  saying,  "  0  mother,  I  have  found 
such  a  book  in  the  public  library,  and  I  will  make  a  play  of 

*  Know;i  under  the  appellation  of  Frau  Hath  Goethe  in  German  literature. 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


79 


it !  What  great  eyes  the  Philistines  will  make  at  the  Knight 
with  the  Iron-hand  I    That 's  glorious,  —  the  Iron-hand  !  " 

H.  C.  E.  TO  T.  E. 

Frankfort,  June  6,  1802. 

A  few  days  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  conversing  with  F. 
Schlegel,  one  of  the  first  living  poets,  and  a  great  ^sthetiker  ; 
he  is  the  brother  of  the  translator  of  Shakespeare.  He  seemed 
much  pleased  with  one  or  two  pieces  by  Wordsworth.  We. 
talked  of  our  English  poets.  He  holds  Spenser  to  be  the 
greatest  in  respect  to  the  melody  of  verse.  "  When  I  read 
him,"  says  he,  "  I  can  hardly  think  it  is  a  Northern  language, 
much  less  English."  He  holds  his  "  Pastorals  "  to  be  his  best 
work,  and  yet  this  is  a  book  of  which  neither  you  nor  I  have 
read  a  word.  I  am  resolved  to  leave  my  favorite  authors  and 
study  those  I  have  through  mistaken  notions  or  absurd  preju- 
dices neglected. 

I  met  lately  with  a  declaration  by  Wieland  concerning 
Shaftesbury  :  "  The  author,"  says  he,  to  whom  I  owe  more 
of  my  cultivation  than  to  any  other  writer,  ajid  of  whom  I 
never  think  without  humility  when  I  reflect  how  far  below 
him  I  now  am."  And  yet  I  believe  Shaftesbury  is  quite  un- 
known to  you.  Mendelssohn  calls  him  the  English  Plato  for 
richness  of  style,  and  for  the  genial  poetic  character  of  his 
moral  philosophy. 

While  I  was  at  Frankfort  I  received  an  invitation  from 
Christian  Brentano  to  join  him  at  Marburg  and  accompany 
him  to  Jena.  One  of  the  places  I  passed  through  was  the 
University  town  of  Giessen,  which  seemed  to  me  a  poverty- 
struck  and  remarkably  uninteresting  town.  It  belongs  to 
Hesse,  and  has  recently  derived  celebrity  from  its  great  chem- 
ical professor,  Liebig.  In  five  days  I  reached  Marburg,  also 
the  seat  of  a  University,  and  beautiful  and  romantic  in  situa- 
tion. Delightful  apartments  had  been  taken  for  me  in  the 
house  of  Professor  Tiedemann,  the  author  of  a  learned  His- 
tory of  Philosophy.  But  I  saw  nothing  of  him  or  his  family. 
His  house  was  nearly  at  the  top  of  the  town,  and  from  my 
pillow  I  had  towards  the  east  a  glorious  view  of  a  long  valley. 
I  lay  on  a  sofa  of  metal  rings,  covered  with  hair,  the  most 
elastic  of  couches,  and  to  me  a  novelty.  Adjoining  this  apart- 
ment were  the  rooms  of  the  then  Doctor  Docens,  or  perhaps 
Professor  Extraordinarius,  von  Savigny,  who  was  commencing 


80       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 

the  professional  career  which  ended  in  his  being  placed  in  the 
highest  position  in  Prussia,  that  of  Minister  of  State  for  the 
Law  Department,  —  a  kind  of  Chancellor.  He  became  the 
head  of  the  historical  school  of  law  as  opposed  to  the  codify- 
ing school,  of  which  in  modern  times  Bentham  was  the  most 
eminent  advocate.  Savigny's  great  work  is  a  History  of  Ro- 
man Law.  At  the  time  of  which  I  speak  he  was  known  by  a 
learned  work  on  Real  Law,  "  Uber  Besitz  "  (on  Possession). 
A  dinner  for  four  was  brought  up  to  his  apartments  every  day, 
for  him,  the  two  Brentanos,  and  myself ;  and  we  usually  spent 
the  rest  of  the  day  together.  Savigny  was  altogether  differ- 
ent in  his  manner  from  the.  Brentanos,  — rather  solemn  in  his 
tone.  In  the  contests  which  constantly  arose  between  them 
and  me,  I  always  found  him  on  my  side.  He  had  a  fine  face, 
which  strongly  resembled  the  portraits  of  Raphael.  At  this 
very  time  he  was  paying  his  addresses  to  the  eldest  of  the 
Miss  Brentanos,  Kunigunda  by  name.  Several  of  her  letters 
to  him  were  sent  under  cover  to  me.  I  am  ashamed  to  con- 
fess that,  though  I  was  fully  sensible  of  the  solidity  of  his 
attainments  and  the  worth  of  his  character,  I  had  so  little 
discernment  as'  not  in  the  least  to  foresee  his  great  future 
eminence.  Of  his  conversation  I  recollect  only  one  thing 
that  is  characteristic.  He  said  that  an  English  lawyer  might 
render  great  service  to  legal  science  by  studying  the  Roman 
Law,  and  showing  the  obligations  of  English  Law  to  it,  which 
are  more  numerous  than  is  generally  supposed.  One  day  I 
mentioned  our  fiction  of  a  wager  in  order  to  try  an  issue, 
and  he  informed  me  that  that  was  borrowed  from  the  Roman 
Law. 

After  an  agreeable  residence  of  between  five  and  six  weeks 
at  Marburg,  I  set  out  on  foot  with  Christian  Brentano  for 
Jena.  The  only  incident  on  the  journey  w^hich  I  recollect,  is 
a  visit  to  the  celebrated  castle  of  Wartburg,  where  Luther  un- 
derwent his  friendly  imprisonment,  and  made  part  of  his 
famous  translation  of  the  Bible.  On  arriving  at  Jena  I  took 
up  my  residence  in  agreeable  apartments,*  and  was  at  once 
introduced  to  a  social  circle  which  rendered  my  stay  there,  till 
the  autumn  of  1805,  one  of  the  happiest  periods  of  my  life. 

Having  resolved  to  become  a  student  at  the  University, 
I  matriculated  on  the  20th  of  October,  the  Prorector  being 
Geheimerath  (Privy  Counsellor)  Voigt. 

It  required  only  a  few  dollars  to  become  enrolled  among  the 

*  My  lodgings  cost  yearly  somewhat  less  than  seven  pounds !  —  H.  C.  R. 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


81 


Academischen  Burger.  The  fees  amounted  to  little  more  than 
half  a  guinea ;  but  for  the  honor  of  Old  England  I  contrived 
to  spend  nearly  a  guinea  by  increasing  the  gratuities  to  the 
under  officers.  I  received  in  return  a  large  piece  of  printed 
paper,  with  a  huge  seal,  announcing  in  Latin  that,  on  due 
examination,  I  had  been  found  worthy  to  study  all  the  arts 
and  sciences.  I  had  also  acquired  a  variety  of  legal  privileges, 
and  contracted  certain  obligations.  I  solemnly  promised  not 
to  knock  anybody  on  the  head,  which  I  never  felt  any  inclina- 
tion to  do :  to  enter  into  no  clubs  and  societies,  which  never- 
theless exist  with  the  knowledge  and  connivance  of  the 
authorities  :  to  employ  all  the  knowledge  I  should  gain  to  the 
advantage  of  religion  and  society,  —  a  promise  which  might 
be  kept  without,  I  fear,  sensibly  advancing  either.  And  yet 
I  took  pains  enough  to  get  wisdom,  for  I  went  to  school  four 
times  a  day,  and  heard  lectures  on  experimental  physics,  on 
aesthetics,  on  speculative  philosophy,  and  on  physical  anthro- 
pology. The  shortest  way  of  giving  an  account  of  my  uniform 
occupation  during  five  days  of  the  week  will  be  by  an  extract 
from  a  letter  :  — 

"  About  six  o'clock  the  man  who  brushes  my  clothes  and 
cleans  my  shoes  will  open  my  bedroom,  or  rather  closet,  door, 
and  light  my  candle.  I  shall  instantly  jump  out  of  my 
wretched  straw  hammock  and  go  into  my  room,  where  in  half 
an  hour  our  pretty  chambermaid  will  bring  my  dried  carrots, 
called  coffee,  which  I  shall  drink  because  I  am  thirsty,  but 
not  without  longing  after  tea  and  toast.  This  done,  I  shall 
take  up  Schelling's  '  Journal  of  Speculative  Physics,'  and,  com- 
paring the  printed  paragraphs  with  my  notes  taken  last  Fri- 
day, try  to  persuade  myself  that  I  have  understood  something. 
Then  I  shall  listen  to  another  lecture  by  him  on  the  same 
subject.  What  my  experience  will  then  be,  I  can't  say  ;  I 
know  what  it  has  been." 

I  will  interpose  a  sad  but  true  commentary  on  the  text. 
I  very  lately  read,  in  the  Prospective  Review,  an  article  by 
James  Martineau,  in  which  he  says,  "  This  is  the  age  of  meta- 
physical curiosity  without  metaphysical  talent."  In  every 
age,  I  believe,  there  have  been  students  of  whom  this  might 
be  said,  and  I  do  not  repent  of  being  one  of  them.  T  w^ould 
rather  have  failed  in  the  attempt  than  not  have  made  it. 

"  Precisely  at  ten  I  shall  run  to  the  Auditorium  of  his 
'  Magnificence,'  the  Prorector  Yoigt,  and  hear  his  lecture  on 
Experimental  Physics,  which  we  call  Natural  Philosophy.  I 

4*  ,  F 


82       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 

shall  admire  his  instruments  and  smile  at  the  egregious  ab- 
surdity of  his  illustrations  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  at  his 
attempts  to  draw  a  moral  from  his  physical  lessons.  He  may 
possibly  repeat  his  favorite  hypothesis  of  two  sorts  of  fire, 
male  and  female  ;  or  allude  to  his  illustration  of  the  Trinity, 
,  as  shown  in  the  creative  or  paternal,  the  preserving  or  filial, 
the  combining  or  spiritual  principles  of  nature.  Or  he  may 
liken  the  operation  of  attraction  and  repulsion  in  the  mate- 
rial world  to  the  debit  and  credit  of  a  merchant's  cash-booL 
(N.  B.  These  are  all  facts.)  Wearied  by  the  lecture,  I  shall 
perhaps  hardly  know  what  to  do  between  eleven  and  twelve 
o'clock,  when  I  shall  reluctantly  come  home  to  a  very  bad 
dinner.  Jena  is  famous  for  its  bad  eating  and  drinking.  Then 
I  shall  prepare  myself  for  a  lecture  at  two  from  Geheimer-Ho- 
frath  Loder,  on  Physical  Anthropology,  by  far  the  best  de- 
livered and  most  useful  of  the  lectures  I  attend.  I  shall  do 
my  best  to  conquer  my  dislike  of,  and  even  disgust  at,  ana- 
tomical preparations,  and  my  repugnance  to  inspect  rotten  car- 
casses and  smoked  skeletons.  And  I  expect  to  learn  the 
general  laws  and  structure  of  the  human  frame,  as  developed 
with  less  minuteness  for  general  students  than  he  employs  on 
his  anatomical  lectures  for  students  of  medicine." 

I  add  here  that  the  museum  of  Loder  enjoyed  as  high  a 
reputation  in  Germany  as  that  of  John  Hunter  in  England, 
and  that  the  musevim  and  its  professor  were  together  invited 
soon  after  this  time  to  the  Russian  University  of  Dorpat,  — 
the  malicious  and  envious  affirming  that  the  professor  went 
as  accessory. 

"From  Loder  I  shall  proceed  to  Schelling,  and  hear  him 
lecture  for  an  hour  on  ^Esthetics,  or  the  Philosophy  of  Taste. 
In  spite  of  the  obscurity  of  a  philosophy  in  which  are  com- 
bined profound  abstraction  and  enthusiastic  mysticism,  I  shall 
certainly  be  amused  at  particular  remarks  (however  unable  to 
comprehend  the  whole)  in  his  development  of  Platonic  ideas 
and  explanation  of  the  philosophy  veiled  in  the  Greek  my- 
thology. I  may  be,  perhaps,  a  little  touched  now  and  then 
by  his  contemptuous  treatment  of  our  English  writers,  as  last 
Wednesday  I  was  by  his  abuse  of  Darwin  and  Locke.  I  may 
hear  Johnson  called  thick-skinned,  and  Priestley  shallow.  I 
may  hear  it  insinuated  that  science  is  not  to  be  expected  in  a 
country  where  mathematics  are  valued  only  as  they  may  help 
to  make  spinning-jennies  and  machines  for  weaving  stockings. 
After  a  stroll  by  the  riverside  in  Paradise,  I  shall  at  four 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


83 


attend  Schelling's  lecture  on  Speculative  Philosophy,  and 
I  may  be  animated  by  the  sight  of  more  than  130  enthusiastic 
young  men,  eagerly  listening  to  the  exposition  of  a  philosophy 
which  in  its  pretensions  is  more  aspiring  than  any  publicly 
maintained  since  the  days  of  Plato  and  his  commentators,  — 
a  philosophy  equally  opposed  to  the  empiricism  of  Locke,  the 
scepticism  of  Hume,  and  the  critical  school  of  Kant,  and  which 
is  now  in  the  sphere  of  Metaphj^sics  the  Lord  of  the  Ascend- 
ant. But  if  I  chance  to  be  in  a  prosaic  mood,  I  may  smile  at 
the  patience  of  so  large  an  assembly,  listening,  because  it  is 
the  fashion,  to  a  detail  which  not  one  in  twenty  comprehends, 
and  which  only  fills  the  head  with  dry  formularies  and  rhap- 
sodical phraseology.  At  six  I  shall  come  home  exhausted 
with  attention  to  novelties  hard  to  understand  ;  and  after, 
perhaps,  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  pen  a  few  English  iambics 
in  a  translation  of  Goethe's  '  Tasso,'  I  shall  read  in  bed  some 
fairy  tale,  poem,  or  other  light  work." 

This  account  of  my  first  Semester  studies  may  suffice  for  the 
present.  Soon  after  writing  the  letter  from  which  the  above 
is  taken,  I  was  invited  to  a  supper-party  at  Schelling's.  The 
evening  was  a  jovial  one,  and  showed  that  philosophers  can 
unbend  as  well  as  other  folk  ;  and  as  it  was  only  in  a  convivial 
way  I  could  expect  to  be  listened  to  by  a  great  metaphysician, 
I  ventured  to  spar  with  the  Professor.  Some  strange  and  un- 
intelligible remarks  had  been  made  on  the  mythology  as  well 
of  the  Orientalists  as  the  Greeks,  and  the  important  part 
played  by  the  Serpent.  A  gentleman  present  exhibited  a 
ring,  received  from  England,  in  the  form  of  a  serpent.  "  Is 
the  serpent  the  symbol  of  English  philosophy  ] "  said  Schelling 
to  me.  "  0  no  !  "  I  answered,  ^'  the  English  take  it  to  apper- 
tain to  German  philosophy,  because  it  changes  its  coat  every 
year."  —  "A  proof,"  he  replied,  "  that  the  English  do  not  look 
deeper  than  the  coat?'  Though  I  shall  have  occasion  again  to 
speak  of  Schelling,  I  will  here  add  that  he  had  the  counte- 
nance of  a  white  negro,  if  the  contradiction  may  be  pardoned, 
> —  tbat  is,  the  curly  hair,  flat  nose,  and  thick  lips,  without  the 
color  of  the  African.  After  a  time  he  was  dethroned  from  his 
metaphysical  rank  by  Hegel,  who  must  have  been  his  pupil.* 
Of  him  I  have  no  recollection,  though  I  find  among  my  papers 
some  memoranda  of  him.    His  philosophy  was  stigmatized  as 

*  Hegel  and  Schelling  were  fellow-pupils  at  Tiibingen.  The  former  was 
five  years  the  elder;  nevertheless  Schelling  seems  at  first  to  have  taken  the 
lead  in  philosophy,  and  to  have  been  of  service  to  his  friend. 


84       REMOTSCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [ChAp.  6. 

Pantheistic  ;  Schelling  managed  to  keep  on  better  terms  with 
Christianity.  His  learning  is  unquestionable,  and  he  ranks 
among  the  first  of  German  thinkers.  Like  his  predecessors,  he 
was  fond  of  tracing  a  trinity  in  his  scheme.  The  Absolute 
Being  or  All  in  All  appears  sometimes  as  the  finite  or  nature, 
symbolized  by  the  Son,  who,  according  to  the  Christian  revela- 
tion, is  subject  to  the  conditions  of  Time,  like  all  natural  and 
material  things,  and  therefore  dies  ;  sometimes  as  thought  or 
the  infinite,  having  no  form,  the  Spirit ;  and  the  union  of  the 
two,  matter  and  spirit,  is  the  Father.  And  thus  who  knows 
but  that  after  all  the  Athanasian  Creed  will  be  resolved  into 
high  metaphysical  truth  ] 

It  may  be  thought  that  these  metaphysical  puzzles  have  no 
business  in  a  paper  of  personal  recollections ;  but,  in  fact,  these 
subjects  occupied  much  of  my  time  while  in  Jena,  —  and  never 
more  than  now. 

The  old  student  Kolle,  to  whom  I  have  already  referred,  in- 
troduced me  to  Professor  Fries,  the  most  distinguished  Kan- 
tianer  at  that  time,  when  the  idealists  of  the  Fichte  and 
Schelling  schools  had  nearly  destroyed  the  Critical  Philosophy. 
Fries  was  brought  up  among  the  Moravians,  fond  of  talk,  but 
of  the  simplest  habits,  —  a  shy  man.  Almost  the  only  treat 
he  allowed  himself  was  a  daily  walk  to  Zwatzen,  a  village  about 
two  miles  from  Jena,  in  the  charming  valley  of  which  Jena  is 
the  metropolis.  Around  Fries  collected  a  number  of  young 
men ;  and  of  his  party  I  was  considered  an  ordinary  member. 
By  him  and  by  others  I  was  well  received,  my  chief  merit 
being,  I  believe,  there  as  elsewhere  in  Germany,  that  I  was 
der  Englander."  Nearly  the  whole  of  my  time  at  Jena  I  was 
the  only  Englishman  there.  It  was  a  passport  everywhere.  I 
could  give  information,  at  all  events,  about  the  language. 
With  Fries  I  used  to  talk  about  the  English  philosophers,  held 
very  cheaply  by  him;  but  he  wanted  historical  knowledge 
about  them,  which  I  was  able  to  give.  And  he,  in  return, 
tried  to  inoculate  me  with  Kantianism.  The  little  I  ever 
clearly  understood  I  learned  from  him. 

On  passing  through  Schlangenbad  I  fell  in  with  a  Major 
K  ,  a  gentlemanly  man,  who  gave  me  a  card  to  two  stu- 
dents who  were  connected  with  him,  —  Frederick  and  Christian 
Schlosser.  Christian,  the  younger,  had  a  commanding  intel- 
lect, and  was  a  partisan  of  the  new  poetical  school,  as  well  as 
of  the  newest  school  of  medical  philosophy.  His  profession 
was  that  of  medicine.    He  became  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  his 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


85 


elder  brother  followed  him.  He  died  young.  At  the  time  of 
my  writing  this,  Frederick  is  still  living,  and  resides  at  Heidel- 
berg, in  a  handsome  house  called  the  Stift,  an  ancient  con- 
vent ;  he  and  his  wife  are  both  highly  esteemed.  The  Stift  is 
his  own  property ;  but  he  told  me  that  as  it  had  been  Church 
property,  and  was  confiscated  at  the  Reformation,  he  did  not 
purchase  it  until  he  had  obtained  the  approbation  and  license 
of  the  Pope. 

Before  the  end  of  the  year  I  left  off  dining  at  home,  and 
became  an  ahonne  at  the  Rose,  the  head  inn,  where  my  dinner 
cost  five  shillings  a  week.  Here  were  the  Schlossers  and  other 
students  of  the  higher  class,  and  the  conversation  was  in  the 
best  University  tone.  I  was  often  applied  to,  to  read  passages 
from  Shakespeare.  Christian  Schlosser  remarked  one  day  at 
the  Rose  table-d'hote,  that  in  the  "Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,"  the  pervading  idea  is  mesalliance,  —  among  the  super- 
natural beings  and  on  earth,  matrimonial  dissensions,  —  in  the 
comic  characters  also,  when  the  mechanics  presume  to  ally 
themselves  to  fine  art.  The  Schlossers  looked  down  upon  the 
Kantian  school,  and  therefore  upon  Fries.  They  and  he,  how- 
ever, were  united  to  a  certain  degree  by  a  common  love  and 
admiration  of  Goethe.  A  third  Schlosser,  a  cousin,  was  a 
nephew  of  Goethe,  and  there  was  a  friendly  acquaintance  be- 
tween the  Schlossers  and  Clemens  Brentano. 

I  may  here  relate  a  curious  phenomenon  of  which  I  myself 
was  a  witness.  The  house  in  which  I  lived  was  large,  and  a 
number  of  students- occupied  apartments  in  it.  There  was  no 
resident  family,  nor  any  female  except  a  middle-aged  woman, 
Aufwarterinn  (waitress),  and  a  very  pretty  girl,  Besen  (broom), 
in  the  cant  language  of  the  Burschen,  —  both  respectable  in 
their  situation.  It  was  the  business  of  these  women  to  let  in 
the  students  at  all  hours  of  the  night,  and  by  so  doing  a  habit 
was  contracted  of  rising  and  opening  the  door  without  awak- 
ing. It  became  possible  to  maintain  a  conversation  with  both 
the  woman  and  the  girl  without  their  being  properly  awake. 
Their  condition  seems  to  have  been  very  much  like  what  is 
now  known  as  the  mesmeric  sleep.  The  particulars  which  I 
have  to  mention  are  still  fresh  in  my  memory,  but  I  will  copy 
from  an  account  written  by  me  at  the  time  :  "  Last  night, 
going  into  the  kitchen  for  a  candle,  I  saw  the  younger  woman 
of  the  house  in  this  extraordinary  state,  and  listened  to  a 
dialogue  between  her  and  the  elder  :  her  answers  were  perti- 
nent and  even  witty.    One  question  put  to  her  was,  '  What 


86       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 

sort  of  a  man  is  Brcntano  1 '  She  answered  :  ^  The  little  fellow 
in  the  front  parlor  ]  0,  he 's  a  comical  fellow,  — like  his  brother 
Clemens,  —  but  he  was  artig '  (polite).  —  *  And  what  of  the 
Englishman  V  —  '  0,  he 's  a  guter  Kerl  (a  good  fellow),  —  he 's 
so  fond  of  talking.'  So  you  see  what  she  said  in  her  sleep  was 
credible  at  all  events.  After  several  incidents,  which  I  pass 
over,  I  spoke  in  my  own  voice,  and  asked  for  a  candle ;  she 
recognized  me,  and  without  awaking  took  the  light  and  accom- 
panied me  to  my  room.  A  few  days  later  I  witnessed  some 
amusing  but  unwarrantable  experiments  on  the  elder  woman, 
when  she  was  in  the  same  state.  The  inquiry  was  made 
whether  she  had  any  empty  rooms.  She  replied,  '  0  yes ! ' 
and  then  in  an  artificial  tone  praised  the  rooms  and  named  the 
price.  Some  of  the  questions  were  of  a  kind  which  I  could  not 
approve,  and  when  at  length  she  awoke  she  was  very  reason- 
ably angry  at  the  tricks  which  had  been  played  on  her." 

On  seeking  for  an  explanation  of  these  facts,  I  found  that 
animal  magnetism,  so  far  from  being  considered  in  Jena  as 
mere  quackery,  was  received  by  the  most  esteemed  natural 
philosophers  as  an  admitted  fact,  and  an  important  chapter  iu 
the  natural  history  of  man. 

H.  C.  E.  TO  T.  R 

"On  all  points,  natural  philosophy,  religion,  metaphysics, 
there  seems  to  be  a  uniform  opposition  between  German  and 
English  opinion.  You  say  with  truth  I  am  growing  a  mystic. 
I  rejoice  to  perceive  it.  Mystery  is  the  poetry  of  philosophy. 
It  employs  and  delights  the  fancy  at  least,  while  your  philos- 
ophy, and  the  cold  rational  quibbles  of  the  French  and  Eng- 
lish schools,  furnish  nothing  but  negatives  to  the  understand- 
ing, and  leave  the  fancy  and  the  heart  quite  barren.  After  all, 
what  we  want  is  strong  persuasion,  conviction,  satisfaction  ; 
whether  it  be  the  demonstrated  hiowledge  of  the  mathemati- 
cian, the  faith  of  the  pietist,  the  presentiment  of  the  mystic, 
or  the  inspiration  of  the  poet,  is  of  less  consequence  to  the 
individual.  And  it  seems  that  nature  has  sufficiently  pro- 
vided for  this  great  blessing  by  that  happy  ductility  of  imagi- 
nation which  is  called  credulity." 

So  I  wrote.  But  I  should  have  thought  more  justly  if  I 
had  said  that  the  best  provision  of  nature  or  providence 
(whichever  name  we  give  to  the  originating  cause),  for  the  fit 
cultivation  of  the  spheres  of  nature,  physical  and  moral,  lies 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


87 


in  the  infinite  varieties  of  human  character.  All  the  faculties 
which  man  has  are  found,  generally  speaking,  in  all  men ;  but 
with  infinite  degrees  of  strength  and  quantity,  and  with 
varieties  in  combination. 

One  of  my  employments  during  a  part  of  1802-3  was 
that  of  a  contributor  to  a  magazine  entitled  the  Monthly 
Register,  and  edited  by  my  friend  Collier.  The  subjects  on 
which  I  wrote  were  German  literature,  the  philosophy  of 
Kant,  &c.  I  also  gave  many  translations  from  Goethe, 
Schiller,  and  others,  in  order  to  exemplify  the  German  theory 
of  versification.  As  an  apology  for  my  being  so  much  at- 
tracted to  this  subject,  I  quote  on  the  epic  hexameter  :  — 

"  Giddy  it  bears  thee  away,  on  the  waves  ever  restless  and  rolling; 
And  thou,  behind  and  before,  seest  but  ocean  and  sky." 

I  sent  one  really  wise  paper,  —  a  translation  of  an  essay  by 
Herr  von  Savigny  on  German  Universities  j  for  the  rest,  I  un- 
affectedly declare  that  they  attracted  no  notice,  and  did  not 
deserve  any. 

[This  will  be  the  best  place  for  a  letter  from  Savigny,  though 
written  somewhat  later,  on  the  subject  of  University  teaching. 
—  Ed.] 

Savigny  to  H.  C.  R.  (Translated.) 

Marburg,  January  9,  1803. 
Dear  Robinson,  —  If  you  saw  what  a  tremendous  deal  I 
have  to  do  this  winter,  you  would  forgive  me  that  I  have  not 
written  to  you  before.  Nevertheless  I  do  not  forgive  myself, 
for  I  have  all  this  time  not  heard  from  you,  and  that  through 
my  fault. 

Moreover,  in  your  letter  you  do  me  a  wrong  which  I  have  to 
endure  from  many  ;  you  imagine  you  see  in  me  a  teacher  full 
of  noble  views  with  regard  to  you.  God  knows  how  I  have 
incurred  this  suspicion,  —  I,  who  perhaps  am  too  off-hand  with 
myself  and  others,  and  act  and  speak  almost  entirely  accord- 
ing to  my  mood,  and  consequently  as  I  feel  at  the  moment, 
without  any  generous  thought  about  the  future.  If  I  were 
to  keep  silent  at  such  an  accusation,  my  relation  to  you  would 
be  really  a  mockery ;  I  should  then  put  on  a  serious  face,  and 
could  not  help  laughing  at  you  in  my  heart. 

About  the  oral  lectures  we  are  indeed  of  very  different 
opinions,  although  I  quite  agree  with  you  as  to  the  method 
in  which  they  are  now  given.    If  a  rule  is  to  be  established 


88       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


on  the  subject,  it  is  necessary  first  to  leave  out  of  considera- 
tion those  real  geniuses  who  are  great  in  practice,  though  even 
these  must  find  a  place  in  the  end.  Such  a  genius  Schelling 
is  not,  —  Fichte  may  partially  have  been ;  I  have  known  only 
one  such,  and  that  was  Spittler.  To  give  one  day  full  expres- 
sion to  my  theory,  and  also  to  do  something  towards  carrying 
it  out,  is  a  matter  w^hich  I  have  especially  at  heart.  Its  prin- 
ciple is  very  simple  :  whatever  man  pursues,  his  own  dignity, 
as  well  as  the  interest  of  the  work,  and  of  the  subject  itself, 
demands  always  that  he  should  do  it  thoroughly.  Thoroughly 
to  do  a  thing  means  so  to  do  it  that  the  work  shall  penetrate 
our  innermost  being  and  thus  become  a  part  of  ourselves,  and 
then  be  spontaneously  reproduced.  Thus  arise  master  minds 
who  combine  mastery  of  their  subject  with  the  maintenance 
of  their  individuality.  But  the  only  way  in  which  we  can 
make  a  thing  our  own  is  hj  thoroughly  working  it  out. 
Therefore  the  whole  art  of  a  teacher  consists  in  methodically 
quickening  the  productive  energy  of  the  pupil,  and  making 
him  find  out  science  for  himself  I  am  convinced,  therefore, 
that  this  is  the  one  necessary  method,  and  consequently  that 
it  is  possible.  Our  lectures,  as  they  are  at  present,  have 
little  resemblance  to  it ;  even  in  outward  form  almost  every- 
thing must  be  changed.  I  see  clearly  the  possibility  of  carry- 
ing out  a  great  part  of  this  plan,  —  the  greatest  difficulty 
being  without  doubt  to  teach  philosophy  in  this  way,  although 
it  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  the  method  of  the  ancients. 
Nothing  can  be  more  opposite  than  the  diffuse  way  in  which 
Schelling  authoritatively  forces  his  ideas  on  crude  understand- 
ings, and  this  method,  according  to  which  it  ought  to  be  the 
highest  glory  of  the  teacher,  if  the  pupils,  with  the  greatest 
love  and  veneration  for  him,  should  nevertheless  stand  to  him, 
the  scientific  individual,  in  no  nearer  relation  than  to  any  one 
else.  The  manner  of  lecturing  should  be  in  the  highest  de- 
gree unrestrained  :  teaching,  talking,  questioning,  conversing, 
just  as  the  subject  may  require.  There  is  no  calculating 
what  must  result  from  this ;  unquestionably  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty would  be  to  find  a  number  of  teachers  adapted  to  it. 
Yet  nothing  is  impossible.  You  see  that  this  whole  idea 
might  be  expressed  from  another  side,  by  the  demand  that  the 
free  activity  of  the  mind  should  be  rendered  possible  by  the 
complete  mastery  of  the  whole  subject-matter.  And,  viewed 
from  this  point,  it  stands  in  very  decided  connection  with  the 
method  of  the  excellent  and  enthusiastic  Pestalozzi. 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


89 


Last  of  all,  because  such  is  the  custom,  but  in  every  other 
respect  first  of  all,  I  beg  the  continuance  of  your  friendly 
feeling. 

Savigny. 

[Here  also  may  be  added  two  extracts  respecting  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  Kant's  philosophy.] 

H.  C.  K.  TO  T.  R. 

Kantianism  professes  to  have  detected  the  basis  of  meta- 
physical science,  and  to  have  established  that  science  on  a 
similar  but  not  the  same  footing  of  sure  evidence  as  the 
mathematical  and  natural  sciences.  It  professes  to  annihilate 
scepticism,  which  is  an  eternal  reproach  to  reason,  (for  what 
is  scepticism  but  a  confession  of  the  impotence  of  reason  1) 
by  showing  the  precise  limits  of  knowledge,  and  the  extent 
and  degree  of  belief  which  we  are  compelled  to  give  to  notions 
that  are  not  susceptible  of  certain  evidence.  In  the  study  of 
Kant,  independently  of  his  grand  result,  I  have  learnt  to 
detect  so  many  false  reasonings  in  our  school,  and  have  ac- 
quired so  many  new  views  of  intellect,  that  I  rejoice  in  having 
undertaken  the  study  of  him,  though  it  has  caused  me  more  pain 
than  I  scarcely  ever  felt,  and  produced  that  humiliating  sense 
of  myself,  the  free  and  unexaggerated  expression  of  which  you 
have  been  pleased  to  consider  as  chimerical.  I  have  indeed 
conquered  one  vast  difficulty,  and  have  at  length  pierced  the 
cloud  which  hung  over  his  doctrine  of  liberty.  I  am  con- 
verted from  the  dogmatical  assertion  of  philosophical  necessity, 
but  on  grounds  of  which  the  libertarians  in  England  have 
no  conception.  I  will  still  support  necessity  against  all  the 
world  but  Kant  and  the  Devil.  Don't  ask  me  for  these 
grounds,  —  they  would  be  quite  unintelligible  till  you  had 
previously  comprehended  and  adopted  the  Kantian  theory  of 
conceptions  ci  priori,  and  of  time  and  space.  It  was  the  fault 
of  my  last  letter  that  I  tried  to  say  too  much.  I  will  confine 
myself  at  present  to  one  single  point,  and  I  flatter  myself 
that  I  shall  make  that  one  point  intelligible.  And  I  have 
hitherto  found  that  to  comprehend  and  to  be  a  convert  to 
Kant  were  the  same.  This  point  is  the  refutation  of  Locke's 
(or  rather  Aristotle's)  famous  principle,  that  there  is  nothing 
in  intellect  which  was  not  before  in  sense,  or  that  all  our  con- 
ceptions (ideas)  are  derived  from  sensation. 


90      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


According  to  the  empirical  system,  as  stated  in  its  utmost 
consistency  by  Horne  Tooke,  man  has  but  one  facult}^^,  that  of 
receiving  sensation  from  external  objects.  But  as  it  is  certain 
we  have  innumerable  notions  and  ideas  which  are  not  the 
copies  of  external  object,  the  empirics,  particularly  Hartley, 
explain  how  these  super-sensible  notions  and  ideas  yet  arise 
(mtclianicalUj  according  to  Hartley)  from  such  sensations.  But 
here  is  a  clear  defect  in  the  system ;  every  operation  supposes 
a  power  working  and  a  power  worked  upon.  Mere  sensibility 
can  give  us  only  sensations,  but  it  is  certain  we  have  a  thou- 
sand notions  which  are  not  material  and  sensible.  External 
objects  may  be,  and  unquestionably  are,  necessary  conditions, 
—  the  sine  qua  non  'oi  ideas,  but  there  must  be  something 
more.  There  must  be  in  us  a  capacity  of  being  so  affected, 
as  well  as  in  external  objects  a  capacity  of  affecting.  And 
this  something  is  a  priori :  not  that  in  the  order  of  time  the 
conceptions  (general  ideas)  exist  before  experience,  but  that 
the  source  of  such  conceptions  is  independent  of  experience. 
You  will  therefore  not  accuse  Kant  of  supporting  innate  ideas, 
of  which  he  is  the  decided  adversary. 

What  Kant  asserts  is,  that  in  order  to  the  arriving  at 
knowledge  there  must  be  a  matter  and  form ;  the  former  is 
furnished  by  the  sensibility,  the  latter  exists  in  the  faculty  of 
understanding.  This  word  form  is  to  you  quite  unintelligible. 
It  was  a  long  while  ere  I  learnt  its  import.  It  is  the  Ass's 
Bridge  of  Kantianism.  I  will  try  to  lift  you  over  it.  You. 
have  seen,  I  hope,  a  magic  lantern.  It  is  the  best  illustration 
I  can  find.  In  order  to  show  off  the  figures,  there  must  be  a 
bright  spot  on  the  wall,  upon  which  the  colored  figures  are  ex- 
hibited. This  is  an  image  of  the  human  mind.  Without  fig- 
ures, the  luminous  spot  is  an  empty  nothing,  like  the  human 
mind  till  it  has  objects  of  sense.  But  without  the  spot  the 
figures  would  be  invisible,  as  without  an  a  priori  capacity  to 
receive  impressions  we  could  have  none.  The  matter,  there- 
fore, of  the  dancing  spectacle  on  the  wall  is  the  ever-shifting 
figure ;  its  form  is  the  bright  spot  which  is  necessary  to  its 
being  shown.  According  to  Leibnitz,  the  figures  are  ready 
made  in  the  spot.  According  to  Locke,  no  spot  is  necessary. 
Kant  is  the  first  philosopher  who  explained  the  true  mechan- 
ism of  that  wonderful  magic  lantern,  the  human  mind.  When, 
therefore,  it  is  said  we  have  the  conceptions  (general  ideas)  a 
priori,  it  is  not  meant  that  the  actual  conceptions  lie  in  us,  even 
in  a  sort  of  dormant  state,  —  which  would  be  a  position  with- 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


91 


out  meaning,  and  hence  equally  incapable  of  being  proved  or 
disproved,  —  but  that  they  are,  or  arise  from  the  pre-existent 
capacity  of  the  understanding,  and  are  determined  by  the 
natural  power  of  thinking  which  the  mind  possesses.  In 
other  words,  conceptions  a  priori  are  but  the  forms  of  con- 
ceptions a  posteriori,  i.  e.  conceptions  whose  matter  is  derived 
from  experience.  Perceiving  a  ball  on  the  edge  of  a  table, 
which  lies  still  till  pushed  off  and  then  falls  to  the  ground,  the 
mind  can  observe  this  fact,  remember  it,  and  put  it  into  words. 
But  how  is  the  mind  enabled  by  this  observation  to  infer  that 
all  bodies  in  a  state  of  rest  remain  as  they  are  till  a  foreign 
substance  operates  on  them,  —  or,  in  a  more  general  form,  that 
all  events  must  have  a  cause  ]  The  pushing  of  a  ball  is  not  all 
events.  And  the  fact  that  something  is,  is  essentially  different 
from  the  knowledge  that  something  must  he.  The  latter 
knowledge  nature  can  never  give,  for  nature  gives  only  facts 
and  things,  but  we  have  the  latter  conception.  Your  Hartley 
shows  the  circumstances  under  which  these  super-sensible  con- 
ceptions are  called  forth.  His  facts  are  denied  by  no  one,  but 
they  do  not  prove  the  conceptions  to  be  of  sensible  origin,  any 
more  than  the  warmth  necessary  to  hatch  an  egg  proves  that 
the  warmth  is  the  principle  of  animal  life.  Conceptions  them- 
selves, which  are  essential  to  all  knowledge,  are  a  priori,  —  and 
not  only  conceptions,  even  intuitions, — for  instance  space,  ^f^hioh. 
is  yet  generally  considered  as  a  general  or  abstract  idea  (i.  e.  con- 
ception). Now  it  is  the  characteristic  of  conception  (or  gen- 
eral idea)  that  it  includes  under  it  many  individuals,  —  as 
"  man  "  includes  Jack,  Tom,  and  Harry  ;  but  when  we  think 
of  space  it  is  always  as  one  whole.  And  different  places  are  not 
like  individual  persons,  —  distinct  beings  having  only  common 
qualities  ;  but  different  places  are  only  parts  of  space.  How, 
then,  did  we  come  by  the  a  priori  intuition,  space  %  You  will 
say  by  abstraction ;  we  unite  all  the  places  we  have  seen, 
imagine  an  infinity  of  others,  and  call  the  whole  space.  But 
on  reflection,  you  will  find  this  process  requires  that  we  should 
set  out  with  the  notion  of  space,  though  your  professed  object 
is  to  leave  off  with  it ;  for  how  could  the  mind  have  the  con- 
sciousness, I  am  in  a  place,"  or,  "  This  is  a  place,"  if  it  had 
not  already  a  notion  of  space  I  will  state  the  example  in 
another  form.  You  have  a  conception  of  body.  Most  of  its 
requisites  or  component  parts  are  empirical,  and  all  that  you 
have  acquired  through  experience  you  can  imagine  yourself  not 
to  have  ;  for  instance,  you  can  dismiss  at  will  color,  hardness, 


92       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 

irresistibility,  &c.,  but  you  cannot  possibly  think  away  space. 
In  like  manner  you  will  find  space  to  be  included  in  all  our 
intuitions  of  external  objects,  of  which  it  is  the  form  or  con- 
dition a  priori.  In  like  manner,  time  is  the  formal  condition, 
or  sine  qua  non^  of  all  appearances  whatever,  for  w^e  cannot 
think  of  any  thought  or  event  which  does  not  take  place  in 
time. 

As  time  and  place  —  which,  however  general  they  seem, 
must  nevertheless  not  be  considered  as  general  ideas  (to  use 
our  scandalously  incorrect  phraseology)  —  are  a  priori  intui- 
tions grounding  all  a  posteriori  intuitions  (i.  e.  sensations  of 
experience),  so  all  our  conceptions  (or  general  ideas)  must  be 
grounded  by  a  priori  conceptions,  which  conceptions  are 
grounded  on  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  and  its  laws  of 
thinking.  The  philosophy  which  shows  how  these  a  priori 
conceptions  and  intuitions  are  the  basis  of  all  knowledge  is 
called  the  Transcendental  (or,  if  you  will,  the  high-flying) 
Philosophy. 

H.  C.  K.  TO  T.  K. 

1.  Experience  gives  us  the  materials  of  knowledge,  of  which 
the  form  lies  in  the  mind. 

2.  Consciousness  is  the  ultimate  source  of  all  our  notions, 
beyond  which  we  cannot  go,  for  we  cannot  step  out  of  our- 
selves. This  consciousness,  when  the  subject  of  our  thoughts, 
teaches  us  that  we  have  a  primitive  productive  faculty  :  imagi- 
nation^ whence  everything  is  derived  ;  sense^  which  opens  to 
us  the  external  world  ;  understanding^  which  brings  to  rule 
the  objects  of  sense  ;  and  further,  reason^  which  goes  beyond 
all  sense  and  all  experience,  —  a  faculty  by  which  we  attain 
ideas.  (You  know  already  the  difference  between  idea  and 
thought,  &c.) 

.3.  (And  here  I  beg  you  to  be  very  attentive,  for  I  enter  on 
a  new  topic,  which  I  have  hitherto  not  ventured  to  introduce.) 
There  is  in  man  a  perpetual  conflict  between  his  reason  and 
his  understanding,  whence  all  philosophical  disputes  arise, 
and  which  a  critical  investigation  of  the  mind  alone  can  solve. 
These  disputes  are  of  the  following  nature  :  The  reason  postu- 
lates a  vast  number  of  truths  which  the  understanding  in  vain 
strives  to  comprehend.  Hence  the  antinomies  of  pure  reason. 
Hence  it  is  easy  to  demonstrate  the  eternity  and  non-eternity 
of  the  world,  —  the  being  and  no-being  of  God,  —  the  existence 
and  non-existence  of  a  free  principle.    Kant  has  placed  these 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


93 


contradictory  demonstrations  in  opposition,  and  gave,  more 
than  twenty  years  ago,  a  public  defiance  to  the  whole  philo- 
sophical world  to  detect  a  flaw  in  either  side  of  these  contradic- 
tory demonstrations  :  and  no  one  has  yet  accepted  the  challenge. 
And  the  solution  of  the  riddle  is,  — 

All  these  ideas,  as  ideas,  have  their  foundation  in  the  nature 
of  the  mind,  and  as  such  we  cannot  shake  them  off.  But 
whether  these  ideas  out  of  the  mind  have  any  reality  what- 
ever, the  mind  itself  can  never  know ;  and  the  result  is, 
not  scepticism,  which  is  uncertainty,  hut  the  certainty  of  our 
necessary  and  inevitable  ignorance.  And  here  speculative  rea- 
son has  performed  its  task.  But  now  a  second  principle  is 
started  by  Kant.    This  is  practical  reason. 

Kant  proceeds  on  the  same  experimental  basis  of  conscious^ 
ness,  and  grounds  all  his  moral  philosophy  on  the  fact  that 
we  are  conscious  of  a  certain  moral  feeling  /  ought,  Kant 
will  not  reason  with  him  who  disputes  this  fact,  and  excludes 
such  a  one  from  the  rank  of  a  rational  and  moral  agent. 

But  the  idea  /  oiight  includes  in  it  /  can ;  and  as  specula^ 
tive  reason  is  quite  neutral  on  all  these  ultimate  points  of 
absolute  knowledge,  practical  reason  on  this  basis,  weak  as  it 
seems,  raises  the  vast  structure  of  moral  philosophy  and  re- 
ligion. And  the  want  of  knowledge  is  supplied  hy  faith,  but  a 
faith  that  is  necessary,  and,  to  an  honest  sound  mind,  ir- 
resistible. Its  objects  are  God,  immortality,  and  freedom,  — 
notions  which  all  unsophisticated  minds  readily  embrace, 
which  a  certain  degree  of  reason  destroys,  but  which,  accord- 
ing to  Kant,  reason  in  its  consistent  application  shall  restore 
again  to  universal  acceptance. 

The  seeming  scepticism  of  the  great  results  of  speculative 
reasoning  is  favorable  to  the  interests  of  religion  and  morality 
by  keeping  the  coasts  clear.  I  cannot,  says  Kant,  demonstrate 
the  being  of  God,  nor  you  his  non-existence.  But  my  moral 
principle  —  the  fact  that  I  am  conscious  of  a  moral  law  —  is  a 
something  against  which  you  have  nothing.  This,  as  respects 
the  first  principle  of  morals  and  religion,  and  the  reality  and 
foundation  of  human  knowledge,  is  the  essence  of  the  Kantian 
philosophy. 


Of  the  numerous  students  with  whom  my  University  life 
brought  me  into  contact  I  shall  not  speak  in  detail ;  but  I 
must  say  something  about  the  student  life,  of  which  exag- 


94       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 

gerated  accounts  are  current.  In  spite  of  the  wildness  and 
even  coarseness  of  manners  too  generally  prevalent,  and 
though  I  was  too  advanced  in  age  to  be  more  than  a  looker-on 
at  their  amusements,  yet  I  conceived  quite  an  affection  for  the 
class.  I  thought  I  had  never  seen  young  men  combining  so 
many  excellences  of  head  and  heart.  Nearly  all  the  under- 
graduates belonged  to  societies  which  were  called  Landsmann- 
schaften,  —  these  Landsmannschaften  being  formed  of  the 
natives  of  separate  countries  or  districts.  Each  held  an  oc- 
casional festival,  called  a  Commers,  to  which  it  was  a  great 
privilege  for  an  outsider  to  be  admitted.  I  was  never  present 
at  more  than  two.  The  first  was  with  the  Rheinlander,  — 
generally  speaking,  a  warm-hearted,  rough  set.  At  these 
meetings  only  beer  was  drunk,  but  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
smoking.  There  was,  however,  no  excess  to  signify.  Many 
Burschenlieder  (student  songs)  were  sung,  some  earnest,  others 
jocular ;  but  a  gross  song  I  never  heard  from  a  student,  either 
here  or  elsewhere.  Among  the  frequent  practices  was  that  of 
Schmollis  trinken,  which  consisted  in  knocking  glasses  together, 
drinking  healths,  and  kissing  each  other.  After  this  the  parties 
became  Dutzbriider,  —  that  is,  instead  of  greeting  each  other 
in  the  ordinary  way  by  the  third  person  plural,  they  made  use 
of  "  thou " ;  and  it  was  a  legitimate  cause  of  duel  if,  after 
Schmollis  trinken,  Sie "  was  used  instead  of  "  Du."  As  I 
had  drunk  with  scores  of  these  Rheinlander,  I  used,  in  order 
to  avoid  all  occasion  of  quarrel,  when  I  met  any  one  of  them 
to  say,  "  Wie  gehts  ]  "  (How  does  it  go  1)  instead  of  "  How  do 
you  do  ] "  which  might  be  expressed  in  two  ways.  The  only 
other  grand  Commers  which  I  attended  was  with  the  Curlan- 
der.  A  Curland  nobleman,  a  very  young  man,  brought  with 
him  to  the  chief  inn  of  Jena,  where  he  stayed  two  days,  an 
English  lady,  whom  he  represented  as  his  wife.  He  had 
among  the  students  personal  friends,  whom  he  invited  to  his 
inn.  He  was  said  to  be  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  English 
service ;  at  all  events  he  was  an  Englishman  in  heart,  had  the 
Anglomania  in  the  highest  degree,  and  for  this  reason  invited 
me  to  join  his  party.  His  companion  was  young  and  very 
pretty,  and  as  wild  as  a  colt ;  and  as  she  knew  no  language 
but  English,  she  constantly  applied  to  me  to  interpret  the 
cause  of  the  merriment  which  was  going  on,  —  no  slight  task. 
In  honor  of  this  gentleman  a  grand  Commers  was  given,  which 
made  me  intimate  with  the  Curland  body. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  two  bodies  of 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


95 


students  most  opposed  to  each  other  in  appearance  and  man- 
ners were  both  subjects  of  the  Eussian  Empire,  —  the  Lieflan- 
der*  and  the  Curlander. 

The  former  were  the  petits  mattres^  —  they  dressed  more 
smartly  than  any  others,  and  were  remarkably  precise  in  their 
speech.  Their  German  was  said  to  be  ultra-correct.  The 
Curlander  were  the  heartiest  and  most  generous  of  youths, 
not  superior  in  ability  or  scholarship,  but  among  the  most 
amiable.  I  find  among  my  memoranda  thirty-three  Stamm- 
blatter  (album-leaves)  of  engraved  and  ornamented  paper 
signed  by  Curlander  alone.  It  is  the  practice  of  students  on 
leaving  the  University  to  exchange  these  tokens  of  remem- 
brance. Those  to  which  I  have  referred  have  revived  tender 
feelings,  but  on  looking  over  them  I  feel  the  truth  and  force  of 
the  words  which  fell  from  Madame  de  Stael  on  one  occasion 
when  I  was  with  her.  Goethe's  son,  a  lad,  called  on  her  and 
presented  to  her  his  Stammbuch.  When  she  had  bowed  him 
out  of  the  room  she  threw  the  book  on  the  sofa,  and  exclaimed, 

Je  n'aime  pas  ces  tables  mortuaires  ! "  Mortuary  tables 
indeed  they  are.  On  one  of  those  which  I  possess  is  written, 
"  I  shall  never  forget  you,  and  I  expect  the  same  from  you." 
But  not  even  this  memorial  brings  the  writer  to  my  mind. 

An  account  of  a  German  University  would  be  very  imperfect 
without  some  mention  of  duels,  which,  from  the  great  exaggera- 
tions generally  circulated,  have  brought  more  reproach  than  is 
deserved.  Generally  speaking,  they  are  harmless.  Very  few  in- 
deed are  the  instances  in  which  they  are  fatal,  and  not  often  is 
any  serious  injury  inflicted.  I  knew  of  only  one  case  of  the 
kind  ;  it  was  that  of  a  student  who  had  received  a  wound  in 
the  breast,  from  which  he  said  he  should  never  cease  to  feel 
the  effects. 

Schelling  said  from  the  rostrum,  "  He  that  dares  not  boldly 
on  occasion  set  his  life  at  stake  and  play  with  it  as  with  a  top, 
is  unquestionably  one  who  is  by  nature  unable  to  enjoy  it,  or 
even  possess  it  in  its  highest  vigor,"  —  a  hint  which  it  is  true 
was  not  wanted  here,  as  in  the  course  of  the  last  six  months 
near  a  hundred  duels  were  fought. 

At  Jena  the  weapon  used  was  the  rapier,  which  with  its 
three  edges  has  certainly  a  murderous  appearance  ;  but  honor 
is  satisfied  if  a  triangle  appears  in  the  flesh  ;  a  very  slight  wound 
is  sufficient  for  that,  and  great  care  is  taken  that  nothing  more 
serious  shall  be  inflicted.    The  combatants  are  made  to  stand 


*  From  Liefland  or  Livland,  Livonia. 
• 


96      REMINISCENCES  OF  HENEY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  6. 


at  a  distance  from  each  other,  and  two  seconds  lie  on  the 
ground  with  sticks  to  interpose  the  moment  their  principals 

C 


press  too  near.    Thus  A- 


-B.    A  and  B  are  the  duellists, 


D 


and  C  D  the  seconds,  who  beat  down  the  swords  when  a  wound 
is  likely  to  be  dangerous.  In  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hun- 
dred a  flesh  wound  on  the  arm  is  all  that  is  given.  As  the 
issue  is  usually  so  unimportant,  a  very  slight  offence  is  con- 
sidered a  sufficient  cause  for  fighting.  There  is  a  code  of  honor 
among  the  students  which  might  be  derived  from  Touchstone's 
famous  code  as  to  giving  the  lie.  For  instance,  if  A  says  of 
anything  that  B  says,  "  Das  ist  comisch  "  (that  is  comical)  — 
that  is  a  Touche  —  an  offence  —  which  B  must  notice,  or  A 
has  the  ^*  advantage  "  {Avantage)  of  him.  Or  if  A  says,  "  It 's 
a  fine  day,  upon  my  honor,"  and  B  says,  "  Upon  my  honor  it 's 
a  dull  day,"  —  that 's  a  Touche,  for  here  the  honor  of  one  of 
two  Burschen  is  in  imminent  peril.  But  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  a  fight  can  take  place  per  saltum.  Wherever  a 
Touche  has  been  received,  the  party  sends  his  friend  to  the  op- 
ponent's room  with  a  Ziegenhainer  (a  stick  cut  from  a  neighbor- 
ing wood),*  who,  without  pulling  off  his  hat,  asks  what  was 
meant.  If  the  supposed  offender  says,  "  I  meant  nothing,"  or 
No  offence  was  intended,"  the  affair  is  over ;  but  a  Bursch 
who  is  jealous  of  his  honor,  though  he  actually  did  mean 
nothing,  is  ashamed  to  say  so,  and  then  the  usual  answer  is, 
"  He  may  take  it  as  he  likes."  Thereupon  the  second  says, 
"  A  desires  me  to  tell  you  that  you  are  a  dummer  Junge,  or  a 
dummer  Kerl "  ;  that  is,  You  are  an  ass  or  a  fool,"  or,  as  we 
should  say  in  England,  "  You  are  no  gentleman."  This  is  the 
offence  which  blood  alone  can  redress.  But  then,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, it  is  only  arm  blood,  not  heart's  blood.  During  my  stay 
at  Jena,  it  never  happened  but  once  that  a  man  came  to  my 
rooms  with  a  Ziegenhainer.  The  student  who  came  was  a 
sensible  fellow,  who  volunteered  in  order  to  prevent  a  silly 
young  fellow  sending  as  great  a  fool  as  himself  The  messen- 
ger threw  down  his  stick  and  his  hat,  and  burst  out  laughing ; 
but  very  gravely  took  back  my  answer  that  I  meant  nothing. 
The  sender  was  a  young  Hessian  nobleman,  and  from  that 
time  I  refused  to  speak  to  him. 

*  This  wood,  Ziegenhain,  was  celebrated  for  the  knotted  sticks' cut  from  a 
kind  of  cherry-tree  (Corneliuskirschen). 


1802.] 


GERMANY. 


97 


On  one  occasion  I  was  myself  present  when,  in  a  beautiful 
and  romantic  valley  a  few  miles  from  Jena,  some  half-dozen 
duels  were  fought  with  due  solemnity,  including  one  interme- 
diate duel,  which  arose  in  this  way  :  A  wound  having  been 
received,  one  of  the  seconds  cried  out,  "  A  triangle,  on  my 
honor."  No  triangle,  on  my  honor,"  answered  the  other.  On 
fhis,  the  seconds,  sans  phrase,  stripped  and  fought,  and  the 
result  being  in  favor  of  him  who  said,  "  A  triangle,'"  his  view 
of  the  matter  was  held  to  be  established,  and  all  four  became 
as  good  friends  as  ever.  It  is  to  be  understood  that  in  these 
cases  the  parties  still  consider  each  other  friends,  though  eti- 
quette does  not  allow  intercourse  between  them  till  the  Ehren- 
sache  (affair  of  honor)  is  decided. 

To  connect  great  matters  with  small,  as  we  constantly  find 
them  in  human  life,  these  duels  in  the  Rauhthal  had  eventu- 
ally a  mighty  effect  on  the  fate  of  Europe.  For  in  the  fa- 
mous campaign  of  1806,  Buonaparte  having  heard  that  there 
was  a  colonel  in  his  army  who  had  been  a  student  at  Jena, 
and  foreseeing  that  Jena  would  be  the  seat  of  war,  sent  for 
him ;  and  he  rendered  most  important  service.  Buonaparte 
held  the  town,  and  on  the  high  ground  between  it  and  Weimar 
was  the  Prussian  army.  The  colonel  led  the  troops  through 
the  Rauhthal,  which  he  probably  became  acquainted  with  from 
fighting  or  witnessing  duels  there.  The  Prussians  were  taken 
in  the  rear,  and  this  movement  contributed  to  a  victory  which 
for  six  years  kept  Germany  in  subjection  to  France. 

During  my  stay  at  Jena  I  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  a 
man  of  science  whose  name  I  have  never  heard  in  England, 
but  who  is  mentioned  with  honor  in  the  "  Conversations  Lex- 
icon," — :  Chladni,  the  inventor  of  a  musical  instrument  called 
the  Clavi-cylinder,  and  the  author  of  a  work  on  the  theory  of 
sound.*  He  travelled  in  Germany,  Italy,  and  France  in  order 
to  make  known  both  his  instrument  and  his  theory.  All  I 
recollect  is  some  curious  experiments  intended  to  show  the  re- 
lation between  vibration  and  form.  A  plate  of  glass  was  thin- 
ly strewn  with  sand,  the  string  of  a  fiddlestick  was  drawn 
across  the  side  of  the  plate,  and  instantly  the  sand  flew  to 
certain  parts,  forming  figures  which  had  been  previously  de- 
scribed. 

*  His  name  is  repeatedly  mentioned  in  Professor  Tyndall's  work  "  On 
Sound,"  where  this  very  experiment  is  referred  to. 


VOL.  I. 


5 


G 


98       REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 


Schiller's  tragedy  of  "  Die  Braut  von  Messina."  A  visit 
to  the  Weimar  Theatre  was  the  occasional  treat  of  the  Jena 
students.  The  distance  (from  seven  to  ten  miles)  was  such  as 
to  allow  those  young  men  who  had  more  strength  in  their 
limbs  than  money  in  their  purses,  to  walk  to  Weimar  and 
back  on  the  same  day.  This  I  have  done  repeatedly,  return- 
ing after  the  play  was  over.  "The  Bride  of  Messina"  was  an 
experiment  by  the  great  dramatist,  and  it  certainly  did  not 
succeed,  inasmuch  as  it  led  to  no  imitations,  unless  the  repre- 
sentations of  "  Antigone  "  a  few  years  since,  both  in  Germany 
and  England,  may  be  traced  to  it.  In  this  tragedy  Schiller 
introduced  choruses,  after  the  fashion  of  the  ancients.  The 
bride  had  two  lovers,  who  were  her  brothers;  the  catas- 
trophe is  as  frightful  as  the  incidents  are  horrible.  The  double 
chorus  sometimes  exchanged  short  epigrammatic  speeches,  and 
sometimes  uttered  tragic  declamations  in  lyric  measure.  I  was 
deeply  impressed,  and  wrote  to  my  brother  that  this  tragedy 
surpassed  all  Schiller's  former  works.  But  this  feeling  must 
have  been  caught  from  my  companions,  for  it  did  not  remain. 

It  must,  too,  have  been  about  this  time  that  Goethe  brought 
out  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  though  not  the  most  popular, 
of  his  dramas,  "  The  Natural  Daughter,"  —  a  play  meant  to  be 
the  first  of  three  in  which  he  was  to  give  a  poetic  view  of  his 
own  ideas  on  the  great  social  questions  of  the  day.  Eugenia, 
the  well-born,  is  condemned  to  make  an  ignoble  marriage  for 
reasons  which  are  left  unexplained;  otherwise  she  is  to  be 
consigned  to  a  barren  rock.  The  lawyer  to  whom  she  is  to  be 
married  is  represented  as  a  worthy  man,  whom  she  respects. 
When  she  gives  her  consent,  she  exacts  from  him  a  promise 
that  he  will  leave  her  mistress  of  her  actions,  and  not  intrude 
on  her  solitude.  With  her  words,  "  To  the  altar,"  the  curtain 
drops.  Herder  professed  a  high  admiration  of  the  piece,  but 
it  is  utterly  unfit  for  a  large  audience.  The  character  of  Eu- 
genia was  beautifully  represented  by  Jagermann,  who  combined 
dignity  and  grace.    On  my  complimenting  her  on  the  pcr- 


CHAPTER  VII. 


GERMANY.  1803. 


attended  the  first  performance  of 


1803.] 


GERMANY. 


99 


formance  she  said,  If  I  played  the  part  well  it  was  by  chance, 
for  I  do  not  understand  the  character." 

She  would  not  have  said  this  of  another  character  in  which 
I  beheld  her,  though  I  do  not  precisely  recollect  at  what 
time.  I  refer  to  Schiller's  "  Jungfrau  von  Orleans,"  which 
came  out  in  1801.  A  glorious  work !  It  was  well  remarked 
by  Hofrath  Jung  of  Mainz,  that  the  characteristics  of  French 
and  German  literature  were  well  exemplified  by  the  name  and 
the  quality  of  the  "  Virgin  of  Orleans  "  by  Schiller  and  La 
Pucelle  d'Orleans  "  by  Voltaire.  Jagermann  recited  with  great 
effect  the  lyrical  passages,  both  when  the  inspiration  seizes 
Joan,  and  the  heroic  conclusion.  I  suppose  it  is  because  the 
English  make  such  a  bad  figure  in  this  tragedy  that  it  has 
never  been  introduced  on  our  own  stage. 

One  other  dramatic  recollection  I  may  mention.  I  saw  at 
Weimar  Lessing's  "  Nathan  der  Weise."  The  author  pro- 
nounced a  blessing  on  the  town  which  should  first  dare  to 
exhibit  it  to  the  world.  He  thought  the  lesson  of  tolerance 
would  not  be  learned  for  generations.  The  play  was  adapted 
to  the  stage  by  Schiller,  and  the  greatest  actor  of  the  day 
came  to  Weimar  to  perform  the  part  of  Nathan.  Never 
probably,  in  any  language,  was  the  noble  and  benignant  Jew 
more  impressively  represented  than  by  Mand.  But  the  work 
has  no  dramatic  worth.  All  one  recollects  of  it  is  the  tale  of 
the  rings,  which  was  borrowed  from  Boccaccio. 

I  went  to  Weimar  twice  in  the  beginning  of  1803,  to  visit 
Herder.  What  I  had  previously  seen  of  him  made  me  feel 
that  in  spite  of  his  eminence  there  were  many  points  of  agree- 
ment in  matters  of  taste  and  sentiment,  and  caused  me  to 
approach  him  with  affection  as  well  as  fear.  I  lent  him 
Wordsworth's  Lyrical  Ballads,"  my  love  for  which  was  in  no 
respect  diminished  by  my  attachment  to  the  German  school 
of  poetry.  I  found  that  Herder  agreed  with  Wordsworth  as 
to  poetical  language.  Indeed  Wordsworth's  notions  on  that 
subject  are  quite  German.  There  was  also  a  general  sympathy 
between  the  two  in  matters  of  morality  and  religion.  Herder 
manifested  a  strong  feeling  of  antipathy  to  the  new  anti- 
supernatural  school  of  Paulus.  With  all  his  habitual  toler- 
ance, he  could  hardly  bear  with  the  Jena  professor,  or  with 
the  government  which  permitted  such  latitudinarianism.  Yet 
he  was  attached  to  Wieland  personally,  Avho  was  certainly  no 
Christian.  Herder  was  also  tolerant  towards  anti-Christian 
writers  of  past  generations.     He  was  a  warm  admirer  of 


100     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 


Shaftesbury,  of  whom  the  worst  he  had  to  say  was  that  he 
wrote  like  a  lord.  His  repugnance  to  some  of  Goethe's  writ- 
ings was  perhaps  still  stronger  than  to  those  of  Paulus  ;  and  he 
reprobated  with  especial  warmth  "  Die  Brant  von  Corinth," 
and  "  Der  Gott  und  die  Bajadere."  Though  in  some  respects 
the  anti-supernatural  professor  was  as  opposite  as  possible  to 
the  poetic  and  anti-metaphysical  divine,  yet  they  were  in 
sympathy  in  their  hostility  to  the  modern  German  philosophy 
of  the  Kantiai;  and  post-Kantian  schools. 

Of  Paulus  I  myself  had  some  personal  knowledge.  Not- 
withstanding his  well-known  opinions,  he  was  one  of  the  regu- 
lar theological  professors  and  members  of  the  senate  in  the 
University  of  Jena.  In  the  following  year  he  was  invited 
by  the  Catholic  King  of  Bavaria  to  the  University  of  Wiirz- 
burg.  No  wonder,  it  may  be  thought,  for  that  would  be  an 
effectual  mode  of  damaging  the  Protestant  Church.  But  he 
did  not  long  remain  under  a  Roman  Catholic  government,  for 
he  was  soon  called  to  occupy  a  high  place  in  the  University  of 
Heidelberg.  He  was  a  laborious  scholar  and  a  very  efficient 
teacher,  and  always  respected  for  his  zeal  and  activity.  Dur- 
ing the  present  session  he  lectured  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul, 
and  on  Dogmatic  Theology,  and  held  every  Saturday  a  theo- 
logical conversation.  I  w^ent  one  day  as  a  visitor  to  hear  his 
lecture,  and  having  already  received  some  kindness  from 
him,  ventured  to  call  on  him  afterwards,  when  the  following 
conversation  took  place.  Referring  to  the  lecture  I  had  heard, 
I  said,  "  Herr  Geheimer-Kirchen-Rath  (Mr.  Privy-Church- 
Counsellor),  will  you  oblige  me  by  telling  me  whether  I  heard 
you  rightly  in  a  remark  I  understood  you  to  make  ]  It  was 
this,  that  a  man  might  altogether  disbelieve  in  miracle,  and 
of  course  all  prophecy  and  inspiration,  and  yet  be  a  Christian." 
His  answer  I  distinctly  recollect  :  ^'  Don't  imagine,  Mr.  Robin- 
son, that  I  mean  anything  personally  disrespectful  when  I  say 
that  that  seems  to  me  a  foolish  question  (eine  dumme  Frage)." 
—  "  How  1  Is  that  possible  1 "  —  "  Why,  it  implies  that  Chris- 
tianity may  have  something  to  do  with  inspiration,  with  pro- 
phecy, or  with  miracle  ;  but  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
(Es  hat  nichts  damit  zu  thun.) " 

Paulus,  when  a  young  man,  visited  England,  and  had  cor- 
responded with  Geddes.  He  also  told  me  that  he  saw  Dr. 
Parr,  and  had  received  letters  from  several  of  the  bishops  ; 
but  he  said  :  "  Your  English  theologians  did  not  much  please 
me.    I  found  but  one  man  who  really  interested  me,  and  him 


1803.] 


GERMANY. 


101 


I  consider  one  of  the  most  excellent  men  I  ever  saw.  This 
was  Robert  Robinson  of  Cambridge  ;  with  me  he  is  the  beau- 
ideal  of  a  Christian  minister."^  I  loved  him  even  for  his 
weaknesses.  With  all  his  peculiarities,  he  was  thoroughly 
liberal.  In  his  attachment  to  the  Baptists  there  was  a  union 
of  childlike  simplicity  and  kind-heartedness  that  was  quite 
charming."    Paulus  spoke  of  Priestley  as  superstitious. 

Griesbach,  the  famous  biblical  scholar,  was  an  older  and 
soberer  man ;  I  visited  him  in  his  garden-house,  but  have  re-, 
tained  no  particulars  of  his  conversation. 

Among  those  who  held  the  office  of  Doctor  docens  at  Jena  was 
one  Kilian,  who  wrote  as  well  as  lectured  on  a  system  of  med- 
icine. The  proof-sheet  of  -the  preface  was  shown  me,  from 
which  I  extracted  a  sentence  to  this  effect  :  ^'  The  science  of 
medicine  does  not  exist  in  order  to  cure  diseases,  but  there  are 
diseases  in  order  that  there  should  be  a  science  of  medicine." 
In  the  same  book  I  was  shown  some  verbal  corrections  made 
by  himself.  Wherever  he  had  written  God  "  he  struck  it  out 
and  substituted  "  The  Absolute." 

Living  at  Jena,  but  neither  as  professor  nor  student,  was 
Gries,  who  afterwards  acquired  reputation  as  the  best  transla- 
tor in  rhyme  of  the  romantic  poets.  He  was  chiefly  known  by 
his  versions  of  Ariosto  and  Tasso,  but  he  also  translated  from 
the  great  Spanish  dramatist  Calderon. 

On  the  4th  of  April  I  closed  my  academical  term  by  setting 
out  student-fashion  on  a  walking  expedition,  and  had  between 
three  and  four  weeks  of  high  enjoyment ;  for  which,  indeed, 
nothing  was  requisite  but  health,  spirits,  and  good-humor,  all 
of  which  I  possessed  in  abundance.  I  determined  to  take  the 
opportunity  of  visiting  Berlin,  and  on  my  way  passed  through 
the  University  towns  of  Halle  and  Wittenberg.  The  latter  is 
known  to  every  one  as  the  place  whence  Luther  promulgated 
the  Reformation.  The  town,  however,  with  its  sunken  Uni- 
versity, was  disappointing  ;  but  I  still  retain  a  recollection  of 
the  portraits  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon.  Both  of  them  lived 
and  preached  and  are  buried  here.  Their  monuments  are  very 
simple, — merely  a  brass  plate  on  the  ground  with  the  common 
inscription  of  dates,  and  the  two  full-length  portraits.  The 
acute  and  sarcastic  countenance  of  the  one,  and  the  bull-like 
head  of  the  other,  are  strikingly  contrasted.  Mildness  is  the 
recorded  virtue  of  Melanchthon ;  but  had  subtlety  and  craft 

*  Robinsoniana,  hy  H.  C.  R.,  will  be  referred  to  in  a  later-  part  of  this 
work. 


102     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 

been  his  qualities,  I  should  have  thought  the  portrait  expressed 
them. 

Berlin,  as  a  city,  gave  me  little  pleasure.  A  city  in  which 
the  sovereign  prince  applies  the  revenues  of  the  state  to  the 
erection  of  opera-houses  and  palaces  has  never  been  an  agree- 
able object  in  my  eyes.  I  hastened  on  my  arrival  to  deliver  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  one  of  the  Berlin  notabilities,  and  in- 
deed one  of  the  remarkable  men  of  the  day.  He  is  entitled  to 
a  grateful  notice  from  me  for  his  generous  hospitality  ;  and 
what  I  have  to  say  will  not  be  altogether  insignificant  as  illus- 
trative of  character.  No  one  who  has  paid  any  attention  to 
the  German  literature  of  the  eighteenth  century  can  be  igno- 
rant of  the  name  of  Frederick  Nicolai,  the  Berlin  publisher. 
And  those  who  know  of  him  merely  as  the  object  of  the 
satires  of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  Tieck  and  the  Schlegels,  —  that 
is,  of  the  most  splendid  writers  in  Germany,  —  may  be  excused 
if  they  think  of  him  as  little  better  than  an  ass.  But  as  he 
w^ould  have  greatly  erred  who  took  his  notion  of  Colley  Gibber 
from  Pope's  "  Dunciad,"  so  would  they  who  fancied  Nicolai  to 
be  the  arch  Philistine  of  the  authors  of  the  "Xenien."  The 
fact  is,  that  Nicolai  was  really  a  meritorious  and  useful  man 
in  his  younger  days  ;  but  he  lived  too  long.  He  was  neither 
more  nor  less  than  an  active,  clever  fellow,  —  full  of  enterprise 
in  the  pursuit  of  inferior  objects  which  he  attained,  but  desti- 
tute of  all  sense  of  the  higher  and  nobler  ends  of  science  and 
literature.  When  I  visited  him  he  was  in  his  seventieth  year. 
Pie  had  been  brought  up  by  his  father  to  the  bookselling  busi- 
ness, and  had  received  a  learned  education.  Early  in  life  he 
became  the  friend  of  Lessing — the  most  honored  name  of  that 
age  —  and  of  Moses  Mendelssohn.  In  1 765  he  established  the 
famous  Allgemeine  Deutsche  Bihliothek  (Universal  German  Li- 
brary), a  review  which  was  as  important  in  its  day  as,  for  so 
many  years,  our  Monthly  Review  was.  But  what  that  Review 
now  appears  to  be  in  comparison  with  the  Edinburgh,  the 
Quarterly,  and  some  others  of  a  subsequent  period,  such  is 
the  Allgemeine  Deutsche  Bihliothek  compared  with  numerous 
works  of  the  modern  German  schools.  When  Lessing  was 
gone,  Nicolai  could  not  engage  men  of  equal  rank  to  supply 
his  place,  and,  unable  to  discern  the  signs  of  the  times,  became 
the  strenuous  opponent  of  the  moderns.  When  age  and  youth 
commence  a  warfare,  which  is  to  last,  every  one  knows  which 
will  be  the  conqueror.  Denn  der  Lebende  hat  recht,"  says 
Schiller     For  he  who  lives  is  in  the  right").    Now  it  unfortu- 


1803.] 


GERMANY. 


103 


nately  happened  that  Nicolai  ventured  to  oppose  himself  — 
and  that  in  the  very  offensive  form  of  coarse  satire  —  to  the 
two  great  schools  of  philosophy  and  poetry  ;  of  philosophy  in 
the  persons  of  Kant  and  Fichte,  and  of  poetry  in  the  person  of 
Goethe.  In  a  novel  entitled  "  Leben  mid  Meinungen  Sem- 
pronius  Gundiberts,"  which  he  gave  me,  the  hero  is  a  sort  of 
metaphysical  Quixote,  who,  on  Kantian  principles,  acts  like  a 
fool.  Nicolai's  best  book,  "  Sebaldus  Nothanker,"  was  trans- 
lated into  English  by  Dutton.  Nicolai  also  brought  out  a 
squib  against  the  Sorrows  of  Werter,"  when  at  the  height  of 
popularity, '  and  called  it  "  Werter's  Joys."  Werter's  pistol-  t 
shot  only  wounds  him,  —  he  recovers,  marries  Charlotte,  and 
sustains  the  most  disgraceful  calamity  that  can  befall  a  hus- 
band. Many  years  afterwads  Nicolai  wrote  a  clever  play,  in 
which  Kotzebue's  "Stranger"  and  the  hero  of  Goethe's  "  Stel- 
la "  are  made  to  be  the  same,  and  the  Stranger  is  represented 
as  compromising  with  his  wife,  receiving  her  back  on  condition 
of  her  living  with  him  in  partnership  with  Stella.  Such  was 
the  Berlin  publisher  who  attained  a  kind  of  literary  notoriety. 
I  did  not  approach  him  with  awe,  but  I  found  him  a  most 
lively,  active,  and  friendly  man.  His  conversation  was  with- 
out bitterness.  I  told  him  of  my  fondness  for  some  of  the 
objects  of  his  satire,  which  did  not  seem  to  displease  him.  He 
was  still  editor  of  a  periodical,  a  small  insignificant  monthly 
magazine,  entitled  JVeue  Berliner  Monatschrift.  A  number, 
which  he  placed  in  my  hands  contained  a  very  foolish  paper 
on  the  opinions  of  the  English  respecting  the  Germans,  —  full 
of  absurd,  vulgar  falsehoods  about  the  English,  such  as  that 
they  can  sell  their  wives  according  to  law  by  taking  them  to 
market  with  a  rope  round  their  necks,  &c.  Nicolai  said, 
"  Write  me  word  what  you  think  of  it"  ;  and  so  I  did.  It  was 
my  amusement  on  my  return  to  Jena  ;  and  I  own  I  was 
pleased  to  find,  on  receiving  a  parcel  from  Berlin,  that  my  an- 
swer was  printed  in  full  without  corrections,  and  with  a  com- 
plimentary preface  by  the  editor. 

While  at  Berlin  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Insti- 
tution. Some  of  the  pupils  evinced  so  much  perception,  that 
I  might  have  supposed  the  deafness  feigned  if  there  had  been 
any  motive  for  deception.  They  are  not  all  dumb,  for  many 
of  them,  by  imitating  certain  movements  of  the  lips  and  tongue, 
can  produce  sounds  which  they  themselves  do  not  hear,  and 
thus  make  themselves  understood.  In  the  dark,  the  pupils 
write  on  each  other's  backs  and  feel  the  words.    I  observed 


104    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 


that  one  young  man  did  not  understand  me  so  well  as  he 
did  others.  The  preceptor  said  my  foreign  manner  was  puz- 
zling. 

Next  day  I  met  a  pupil  in  the  street,  who  smiled  and  took 
me  by  the  hand,  when  this  dialogue  took  place  :  I  said,  "  Which 
is  the  way  to  St.  - — — 's  Church  1 "  He  made  a  flourish  in  the 
air  with  his  hands,  in  imitation  of  a  cupola  with  a  spire  above. 
It  was  the  form  of  the  church.  I  nodded  assent.  He  pointed 
to  a  street,  and  stretching  out  his  right  arm,  struck  it  twice, 
with  his  left  hand ;  then  for  the  outstretched  right  arm  substi- 
tuted the  left,  and  finished  by  one  stroke  on  the  left  arm  with 
the  right  hand.  So  that  I  at  once  understood  that  I  had  to 
take  the  second  turning  to  the  right,  and  the  first  to  the  left. 
Nothing  could  be  clearer  or  more  correct.  I  shook  hands  with 
him  at  parting,  and  he  appeared  delighted  at  his  success  in 
rendering  me  this  little  service. 

I  thought  the  Opera-house  very  splendid.  I  saw  there 
"  The  Island  of  Spirits,"  founded  on  Shakespeare's  "  Tempest," 
with  a  skilful  omission  of  everything  beyond  the  story  that 
could  recall  the  great  dramatist  to  the  mind.  Prosperous  char- 
acter was  ruined  by  his  appearing  to  be  dependent  on  a  spirit 
floating  in  the  clouds,  whose  aid  he  implores ;  and  Caliban  was 
a  sort  of  clown,  unmercifully  thrashed  as  the  clown  is  in  our 
pantomimes.  I  saw  also  a  comic  vaudeville,  with  jokes  of  a 
bolder  character  than  I  should  have  expected.  A  dispute 
arises  about  geography,  and  an  old  map  being  brought,  the 
remark  that  Germany  and  Poland  are  terribly  torn  was  warmly 
applauded.  I  saw  Iflland  in  a  sentimental  melodrama  by  Kot- 
zebue,  —  "  The  Hussites  before  Naumburg."  He  charmed  me 
by  his  tender  and  dignified  representation  of  an  old  man. 

The  only  occurrence  on  my  way  back  to  Jena  worth  noting 
took  place  at  the  little  town  of  Altenburg,  where  I  was  asked 
at  the  inn  whether  I  would  not  call  on  Anton  Wall.  Now 
Anton  Wall  was  the  nom  de  guerre  of  a  waiter  of  romances,  in 
which  he  availed  himself. of  Oriental  imagery  and  machinery 
with  humor  and  grace.  Especially  had  his  Amatonda " 
pleased  me.*  It  is  considered  not  an  intrusion,  but  a  compli- 
ment, at  all  events  by  the  minor  writers,  when  a  traveller  calls 
on  an  author.  The  singular  habits  of  Anton  Wall  might  ren- 
der such  a  visit  peculiarly  acceptable  ;  for,  though  he  did  not 
pretend  to  be  ill,  he  had  literally  taken  to  his  bed,  and  there 

*  Afterwards  translated  by  H.  C.  R.  Anton  Wall  is  the  nom  de  guerre  of 
Christian  Leberecht  Heyne. 


1803.] 


GERMANY. 


105 


in  a  garret  had  lived  for  years.  He  had  his  books  near,  and 
dreamed  away  his  time,  writing  occasionally.  I  introduced 
myself  as  an  Englishman,  and  he  was  evidently  flattered  by 
finding  himself  known  to  an  Englishman.  He  inquired  which 
of  his  books  I  had  read,  and  when  I  said  Amatonda,"  he  told 
me  that  the  poetical  brother  was  intended  for  Jean  Paul.  This 
tale  relates  how  a  magician,  dying,  tells  his  three  nephews 
that  the  only  way  to  secure  happiness  is  by  finding  the  fairy 
Amatonda;  but  he  dies  without  keeping  his  promise  to  any 
one  of  the  three,  that  he  would  tell  them  where  she  is  to  be 
found.  The  two  elder  brothers  set  out  in  search  of  her.  The 
eldest  fancies  she  must  be  glory,  and  becomes  a  warrior  and 
statesman ;  but  adversity  overtakes  him,  and  in  old  age  he 
returns  to  his  uncle's  house  a  cripple  and  in  poverty.  On  his 
way  back  he  falls  in  with  the  second  brother,  who  had  pursued 
the  fairy  in  literary  fame,  and  was  equally  unsuccessful  and 
wretched.  They  find  the  third  brother  at  home  with  a  wife 
and  children,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  happiness  of  which 
they  had  gone  forth  in  search.  He  said  to  them,  "  I  did  not 
think  it  worth  while  to  go  out  of  my  way  in  pursuit  of  the 
fairy;  but  she  might  come  to  me,  if  she  liked,  and  she  did 
come.  She  made  her  appearance  to  announce  that  the  true 
Amatonda  is  a  good  wife."  With  Anton  Wall  I  had  a  long- 
chat.  He  was  remarkably  clean  in  his  person,  and  there  was 
an  air  of  neatness  and  comfort  in  his  apartment,  which  itself, 
though  a  garret,  was  spacious.  He  himself  was  a  compound 
of  kindliness  and  vanity.  It  was  thought  he  was  rather  crazy, 
but  he  was  universally  liked.  He  was  fond  of  giving  treats  to 
little  children ;  and  girls  used  to  come  to  him  to  receive  les- 
sons. In  announcing  his  "  Bagatellen,"  Schlegel  in  his  Athe- 
ncmtm  says,  "  These  are  genuine  '  Bagatellen,'  and  that  is  not  a 
trifle,"  —  a  compliment  which  Anton  Wall  heard  from  me  with 
satisfaction. 

I  commenced  my  second  session  at  the  University  of  Jena 
much  more  auspiciously  than  the  first.  My  position  was  very 
much  improved,  and  I  was  in  excellent  health  and  spirits.  As 
to  my  studies,  I  determined  to  endeavor  to  make  up  for  my 
want  of  an  early  grammar-school  education.  It  is  not  without 
a  feeling  of  melancholy  that  I  recollect  the  long  list  of  Greek 
and  Latin  authors  whom  I  read  during  the  next  two  years.* 
That  I  never  mastered  the  Greek  language  is  certain ;  but  I 
am  unwilling  to  suppose  that  I  did  not  gain  some  nisight  into 

*  The  list  includes  the  principal  authors  in  both  languages. 
5* 


106     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 

the  genius  of  Greek  poetry,  especially  in  its  connection  with 
philosophy.* 

H.  C.  R.  TO  HIS  Brother. 

Jena,  June  2,  1803. 

Dear  Thomas  :  — 

....  I  have  changed  my  lodgings,  and  have  at  present  one 
of  the  best  in  the  town.  My  sitting-room  has  four  sash-windows 
opening  into  a  beautiful  walk  of  lime-trees,  and  affording  a  fine 
hilly  prospect.  Now,  too,  that  spring  is  come,  I  find  Jena  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  spots  I  ever  dwelt  in.  It  stands  in  the 
centre  of  a  valley  of  more  than  fifteen  miles  along  the  Saale, 
which  in  its  course  has  many  a  picturesque  winding,  and  passes 
through  many  pleasing  villages.  I  have  likewise  remarked  in 
myself  two  very  happy  changes.  The  one  is  that  I  can  amuse 
myself  without  suffering  ennui  in  mixed  society,  and  that  I 
have  lost  that  eager  thirst  after  new  books  which  is  rather  a 
disease  than  a  passion.  I  can  now  take  a  walk  without  a  book 
in  my  pocket,  and  can  be  at  ease  if  I  do  not  find  on  my  desk  a 
new,  unread  publication.f  .... 

I  have  introduced  among  the  students  games  at  leap-frog 
and  jumping  over  ditches  ;  and  I  attribute  much  of  my  well- 
being  now  to  these  bodily  exercises.  In  short,  I  am  without 
care  and  very  lively,  and  withal  by  no  means  idle.  I  write 
or  study  attentively  eight  hours  every  day. 

Notwithstanding  my  study  of  the  ancient  languages,  I  at- 
tended a  course  of  lectures  by  Schelling  on  methodology ;  and 
I  fancied  I  had  a  glimpse  of  light  every  now  and  then.  He 
pointed  out  the  relation  of  the  several  sciences  to  one  another, 
but  dwelt  chiefly  on  religion  and  jurisprudence,  and  said  but 
little  of  the  physical  sciences.  I  will  insert  here  a  recollec- 
tion, which  seems  to  me  important,  and  the  accuracy  of  which 
was  corroborated  by  one  who  ranks  among  those  who  have 
advanced  the  philosophy  of  science,  and  especially  in  connec- 
tion with  magnetism :  I  refer  to  Dr.  Neeff.  Schelling  said  : 
We  are  accustomed  to  consider  magnetism,  electricity,  and 
galvanism  three  distinct  sciences ;  and  in  a  certain  sense  they 
are,  inasmuch  as  the  facts  belonging  to  them  are  arranged  in 
three  classes.    But  in  truth  the  magnetic,  electric,  and  gal- 

*  Private  lessons  from  an  old  student  cost  me  three  dollars  six  gi'oschen  for 
two  months. 

t  At  all  events  durin(2j  the  last  forty  years  of  his  life,  Mr.  Robinson  never  took 
a  walk  without  a  book  in  his  pocket. 


1803.] 


GERMANY. 


107 


vanic  powers  are  only  various  forms  of  the  same  thing  ;  and 
before  many  years  have  elapsed  some  experimental  naturalist 
will  come  forward  and  exhibit  visible  proofs  of  this  fact."  * 

I  kept  up  my  acquaintance  with  Schelling  by  occasionally 
^  calling  on  him  ;  and,  during  one  of  my  visits,  I  ventured  to 
remonstrate  with  him  on  the  contemptuous  language  he  used 
respecting  our  great  English  authors,  even  Bacon  and  Newton. 
He  gave  the  best  turn  he  could  to  the  subject  by  saying, 
*^  Because  they  are  so  dangerous.  The  English  empiricists  are 
more  consistent  than  the  French."  (I  doubt  this,  by  the  by, 
so  far  as  Locke  is  concerned.)  "  There  is  Bacon,  a  man  of 
vast  talents,  but  a  most  mischievous  philosopher.  He  and 
Newton  may  be  regarded  as  the  great  enemies  and  destroyers 
of  philosophy  in  modern  times.  But,"  he  added,  "it  is  no 
small  matter  to  be  able  to  do  so  much  harm." 

The  name  of  Voss  will  have  a  lasting  place  in  the  history 
of  German  literature.  He  is  known  and  prized  as  the  greatest 
of  German  translators  from  the  Greek.  Especially  is  his 
Homer  "  considered  a  masterpiece.  To  this  he  owes  his  fame. 
The  one  drawback  on  his  good  name  is  the  acrimony  of  his 
polemical  writings.  He  was  an  elderly  man  at  the  time  I  was 
introduced  to  him,  —  in  his  person  tall  and  thin,  with  a  sharp 
nose,  and  a  sort  of  lanky  figure,  —  a  compound  of  subtlety 
and  naivete.  He  was  living  retired  and  quite  domesticated. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  Mecklenburg  peasant,  and  used  to  be 
called  a  "  gelehrter  Bauer  "  (a  learned  peasant).  To  this  cir- 
cumstance some  ascribed  the  absence  of  good  manners  in  con- 
troversy ;  but  I  would  rather  ascribe  a  great  portion  of  it  to 
his  intense  conscientiousness.  He  was  a  rigidly  virtuous  man, 
and  a  Protestant ;  and  seemed  hardly  able  to  tolerate  any  de- 
parture from  what  he  thought  right  and  true.  Eoman  Ca- 
tholicism he  called  Jesuitism.  When  his  noble  friends,  the 
Counts  Stolberg,  whom  in  his  youth  he  must  have  deemed  it 
a  high  honor  to  know,  went  over  to  the  Eoman  Catholic 
Church,  he  treated  the  change  as  if  it  were  hardly  short  of  a 
crime.    Nor  was  he  much  better  able  to  bear  difference  of 

*  '*  In  1812  Oersted  went  to  Germany,  and  whilst  there  he  wrote  his  essay 
on  the  Identity  of  Chemical  and  Electrical  Forces,  thus  laying  the  foundation 
for  the  subsequent  identification  of  the  forces  of  mngnetism,  electricity,  and 
galvanism.  In  1819  he  made  the  announcement  of  his  great  discovery  of  the 
intimate  relation  existing  between  mngnetism  and  electricity." —  Eng.  Cyclop.^ 
Article  "  Oersted."  "  Faraday  read  his  first  paper  on  Magneto-electric  Induc- 
tion before  the  Royal  Society  on  the  24tli  November,  1831";  "his  paper  on 
Identity  of  Electricities  on  January  10th  and  17th,  1833,  also  before  the  Royal 
Society."  —  Faraday  as  a  Discoverer^  by  John  Tyndall. 


108     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENKY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 

Opinion  on  matters  of  taste.  Hence  his  furious  disputes  with 
Hcyne,  the  learned  Gottinger,  and  (but  that  was  later)  with 
Creuzer,  the  mythologist.  The  latter  explained  the  Greek 
and  Roman  mythology,  as  Voss  thought,  mystically.  I  was 
quite  unable  to  make  him  see  the  beauty  of  Dry  den's  exquis- 
ite translations  from  Horace,  —  such  as  the  "  Ode  on  For- 
tune." Indeed,  his  love  of  English  literature  was  nearly  con- 
fined to  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  of  both  of  whom  he  always 
spoke  in  high  admiration.  And  he  affirmed  that  Milton  might, 
had  he  pleased,  have  successfully  mtroduced  hexameters  into 
English  poetry. 

Voss's  "  Louisa  "  is  the  rival  of  "  Hermann  und  Dorothea," 
and  has  perhaps  more  admirers.  He  is  delicate  in  his  descrip- 
tions, and  paints  and  describes  nothing  but  the  simple,  the  no- 
ble, the  modest,  and  the  good.  But  this  turn  of  mind,  which 
prevents  his  being  a  great  poet,  makes  him  one  of  the  best 
men  imaginable. 

It  was  understood  that  Voss's  time  for  receiving  callers  was 
after  supper,  and  I  frequently  availed  myself  of  the  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  him.  For,  with  all  his  infirmities  of  temper 
and  his  narrowness,  there  was  in  him  an  integrity,  a  simplici- 
ty, a  purity,  which  placed  him  in  the  very  first  class  of  men 
combining  great  mental  power  with  the  highest  moral  quali- 
ties ;  anil  it  was  no  slight  merit  in  my  eyes,  that  he  loved 
Goethe  and  Wieland,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  difference 
between  his  literary  tastes  and  theirs. 

I  once  saw  at  the  house  of  Voss  the  accomplished  scholar 
Wolf,  who  had  in  Germany,  in  my  time,  as  high  a  reputation 
as  at  the  same  time  Person  had  in  England.  Wolfs  com- 
manding person  and  figure  of  themselves  attracted  attention  to 
him.  His  friendship  with  Yoss  was  cemented  by  their  united 
opposition  to  Heyne.  Voss  told  me  that  he  and  Wolf  used  to 
disjmte  which  owed  most  to  Heyne.  Both  had  been  his  pupils ; 
one  had  subscribed  to  two  courses  of  lectures,  and  heard  a 
single  lecture,  —  the  other  had  subscribed  to  only  one  course, 
and  had  heard  three  lectures.  Voss's  attachment  to  Wolf  may 
be  regarded  as  a  ^reat  and  rare  act  of  liberality,  seeing  that 
he  altogether  dissented  from  Wolf's  theory  concerning  Homer. 
Voss  used  to  say,  "  It  would  be  a  greater  miracle  had  there  been 
many  Homers,  than  it  is  that  there  was  one."  On  the  other 
hand,  Goethe  has  an  epigram  m  which  he  gives  the  health  of 
him  who  freed  the  poets  from  the  tyranny  of  the  single-one, 
with  whom  no  one  would  dare  to  contend ;     but  to  be  one  of 


1803.] 


GERMANY. 


109 


the  Homeridae  is  beantiful."  This  he  said  in  alkision  to  his 
own    Achilleis,"  a  continuation  of  the  "  Diad." 

Wolf  frequently  said  good  things.  I  heard  Yoss  relate  this 
mot  of  his  against  Meiners.  He  quoted*  some  Latin  book  of 
Meiners,'  "  Minertis  de,"  &c.,  and  remarked  it  would  have  been 
better  if  the  learned  professor  had  written  "  Minertii  de,"  but 
he  always  through  life  thought  proper  to  decline  himself  ac- 
cording to  iners. 

When  Madame  de  Stael  came  to  Weimar,  Yoss  was  told 
that  she  wished  to  see  him.  He  coolly  replied  that  she  might 
come.  But  she  would  have  been  sadly  perplexed  if  she  had 
taken  him  at  his  word ;  for  he  would  not  have  spoken  French 
to  her.  He  was  indignant  at  the  homage  paid  to  foreigners 
by  speaking  their  language.  "  I  should  think  it  my  duty," 
he  said,  ^'to  learn  French  before  I  went  to  France.  The 
French  should  do  the  same." 

Out  of  his  own  peculiar  line  of  philological  and  archa3ologi- 
cal  study,  he  was  not  a  man  of  great  acuteness.  When  his 
poetical  works  were  reviewed  by  Goethe  in  the  Jena  Liter  a- 
rische  Zeitung,  I  was  afraid  he  would  take  offence  at  what 
seemed  to  me  some  awkward  compliments.  For  example, 
While  other  poets  raise  to  themselves  the  objects  they  de- 
scribe, our  amiable  author  descends  to  their  level  and  becomes 
one  of  them."  Goethe  was  speaking  of  the  Idyllists,  the 
class  to  whom  Yoss  belonged.  But  my  apprehension  proved 
to  be  groundless.  Goethe  praised  affectionately,  picking  out 
excellences  and  passing  over  defects,  after  his  fashion,  and 
Yoss  was  well  pleased.  His  "  Louisa  "  is  certainly  a  master- 
piece, though  I  cannot  but  think  Wordsworth  greatly  mis- 
taken in  prizing  it  more  highly  than  /'Hermann  und 
Dorothea." 

In  the  same  house  I  once  met  the  famous  philosopher 
Frederick  Jacobi,  with  whose  personal  dignity  and  beauty  I 
was  much  struck.  He  was,  take  him  for  all  in  all,  one  of  the 
handsomest  men  I  ever  saw.  He  was  greatly  respected.  I 
should  have  said  universally,  but  for  the  odium  he  incurred 
from  the  Romanist  party. 

He  spoke  with  great  respect  of  my  friend  Fries,  and  said, 
If  he  be  a  Kantianer,  so  am  1."  Jacobi  is  at  the  head  of  a 
school  of  thought  which  has  attracted  men  of  feeling  and 
imagination,  but  which  men  of  a  dry  and  logical  turn  have 
considered  a  corruption  of  philosophy.  Yet  opposed  as  he 
was  to  the  critical  philosophy  on  account  of  its  dryness,  and 


110     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  7. 

to  the  poets  for  their  supposed  want  of  religion,  he  was  to  no 
one's  taste  precisely.  Some  accused  him  of  intolerance.  But 
I  believe  it  lay  in  his  warm  style,  rather  than  in  his  heart. 
Goethe,  however,  seemed  never  to  be  quite  reconciled  to  his 
way  of  showing  religious  zeal. 

At  the  beginning  of  session  1803-4,  the  list  of  Jena  pro- 
fessors showed  a  serious  loss,  no  less  than  seven  having  left, 
including  Schelling,  Tennemann,  Paulus,  and  Hufeland,  a  dis- 
tinguished jurist.  But  another  loss,  which  soon  followed, 
affected  me  personally  still  more.  It  arose  out  of  the  New 
Year  festivities. 

It  is  a  custom  at  Jena,  as  at  other  German  Universities,  to 
celebrate  the  New  Year  by  a  midnight  frolic.  The  Burschen 
assemble  in  the  market-place,  and,  when  the  town-clock  strikes 
twelve,  they  shout  a  pereat  to  the  Old  Year,  and  a  vivat  to  the 
New.  Like  base  and  disgraceful  sycophants,  they  forget  the 
good  and  exaggerate  the  evil  the  departed  year  may  have 
brought,  and  dismiss  it  without  ceremony  to  the  shades. 
They  then  hail  the  new-comer  with  the  complimentary  saluta- 
tion, Das  neue  Jahr  soil  leben  !  "  —  as  we  should  say,  "  The 
New  Year  forever  !  "  Squibs  and  crackers  frequently  accom- 
pany this  celebration.  Now  it  is  obvious  that  the  darkness 
of  night  and  the  excitement  arising  from  the  Commerse  which 
have  probably  taken  place  are  not  unlikely  to  lead  to  more  or 
less  rioting,  especially  if  during  the  year  offence  have  been 
given  to  influential  Burschen.  The  previous  year  about  thirty 
houses  had  their  windows  broken  without  resistance,  or  subse- 
quent notice  by  the  authorities.  On  the  present  occasion  I 
did  not  anticipate  any  disturbance,  and  therefore,  after  sup- 
ping with  the  Curl'ander,  retired  to  my  rooms  before  the  stroke 
of  the  clock.  Unluckily,  however,  a  tradesman  had  given 
offence  by  sending  a  girl  to  Bridewell,  and  a  body  of  students 
showed  their  displeasure  by  breaking  a  few  panes  of  glass  at 
his  house.  In  an  instant  a  number  of  hussars  appeared,  and 
a  skirmish  arose,  in  which  the  students,  few  in  number,  and 
these  few  more  or  less  intoxicated,  were  driven  out  of  the 
market-place.  The  cry  resounded,  "  Bursch  heraus  !  "  like 
the  cry  of  "  Gown  against  Town  "  at  Cambridge,  and  the  stu- 
dents came  again  into  the  field.  The  Prorector,  who  corre- 
sponds to  the  Cambridge  Vice-Chancellor,  was  called  up,  and 
the  demand  was  made  that  a  wounded  student  who  had  been 
taken  to  the  watch-house  should  be  set  free  This  was  re- 
fused, and  the  hussars  returned,    The  affair  was  already  bad 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


Ill 


enough,  but  the  students  made  it  worse  by  a  most  indecorous 
memorial,  which  they  called  a  petition,  and  in  which  they  de- 
manded an  amnesty  in  behalf  of  the  implicated  students,  com- 
pensation for  what  was  considered  an  insult  in  the  calling  out 
of  the  military  with  fixed  bayonets,  and  a  pledge  on  the  jDart 
of  the  government  that  on  no  occasion  in  future  should  troops 
not  garrisoned  at  Jena  be  sent  from  Weimar.  In  case  these 
demands  were  not  complied  with,  two  hundred  and  four  stu- 
dents pledged  themselves  to  leave  the  University  at  Easter. 
Among  the  subscribers  were  the  Curlander,  Rheinlander,  and 
nearly  all  my  personal  friends.  I,  being  a  sort  of  privileged 
person,  was  not  pressed  for  my  name,  though  a  blank  was  left 
for  it.  On  the  part  of  the  academical  senate,  the  negotiation 
was  put  into  the  hands  of  one  who  had  no  savoir  faire.  The  re- 
sult was  that  conference  served  rather  to  widen  than  to  close 
the  breach.  Both  parties  secretly  wished  for  a  reconciliation,  for 
the  professors  were  unwilling  to  lose  their  pupils,  and  the  stu- 
dents were  aware  that  nowhere  else  could  they  enjoy  so  many 
advantages  at  so  little  expense  ;  and  yet  neither  were  prepared 
to  make  the  necessary  concessions.  Thinking  myself  perhaps 
a  suitable  person  to  interpose,  I  called  on  seven  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  senate.  But  meanwhile  the  matter  had  been 
laid  before  the  Duke,  whose  pride  was  wounded  by  the  insult 
offered  to  his  soldiers  ;  and  he  gave  preparatory  orders,  which 
rendered  all  reconciliation  impossible.  I  shall  mention  more 
in  detail  by  and  by  an  application  made  by  me  to  Goethe  in 
behalf  of  the  students.    It  was  of  no  avail. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GERMANY.  1804. 

THE  prospect  of  losing  so  many  friends  was  to  me  a  real 
sorrow,  and  I  should  have  felt  it  still  more  deeply  had 
not  my  interest  in  University  studies  been  weakened  by  other 
pursuits,  and  especially  by  the  very  interesting  acquaintance 
which  I  formed  in  the  month  of  January  (1804)  with  a  lady 
who  then  enjoyed  a  European  reputation,  and  who  will  have 
a  lasting  place  in  the  history  of  French  literature.  I  received 
a  note  from  Bottiger,  the  curious  beginning  of  which  is  worth 


112     RExMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

translating  :  "  Madame  de  Stael,  from  whose  lips  flow  spirit 
and  honeyed  speech  (Geist  und  Honigrede)  wishes  to  make 
your  acquaintance,  dearest  Sir  and  Friend.  She  longs  for  a 
philosophical  conversation  with  you,  and  is  now  busied  with 
the  Cahier  (notes)  on  Schelling's  *  Esthetics,'  which  I  possess 
through  your  kindness.  She  has,  indeed,  translated  some 
portions  of  them  with  admirable  skill."  I  was  then  requested 
to  fix  a  day  for  dining  with  her.  I  was  delighted  with  this 
invitation,  and  knew  how  to  interpret  Bottiger's  flattering  ex- 
pressions in  reference  to  myself.  He  further  begged  me  to 
draw  up  a  sketch  of  Schelling's  All-philosophia,"  as  he 
termed  it,  adapted  to  the  Verstandswelt,  i.  e.  the  world  of  the 
ordinary  understanding  and  common  sense  as  opposed  to  the 
philosophical  reason.  With  this  request  I  complied,  not  that 
I  imagined  myself  competent  to  write  a  sentence  w^hich  would 
satisfy  a  German  philosopher,  but  I  thought  I  might  render 
some  service  to  a  French  lady,  even  though  she  were  Madame 
de  Stael. 

On  the  28th  of  January  I  first  waited  on  her.  I  was  shown 
into  her  bedroom,  for  which,  not  knowing  Parisian  customs, 
I  was  unprepared.  She  was  sitting,  most  decorously,  in  her 
bed,  and  writing.  She  had  her  nightcap  on,  and  her  face  was 
not  made  up  for  the  day.  It  was  by  no  means  a  captivating 
spectacle,  but  I  had  a  very  cordial  reception,  and  two  bright 
black  eyes  smiled  benignantly  on  me.  After  a  warm  expres- 
sion of  her  pleasure  at  making  my  acquaintance,  she  dismissed 
me  till  three  o'clock.  On  my  return  then  I  found  a  very  dif- 
ferent person,  —  the  accomplished  Frenchwoman  surrounded 
by  admirers,  some  of  whom  were  themselves  distinguished. 
Among  them  was  the  aged  Wieland.  There  was  on  this,  and 
I  believe  on  almost  every  other  occasion,  but  one  lady  among 
the  guests  :  in  this  instance  Frau  von  Kalb.  Madame  de 
Stael  did  not  aflect  to  conceal  her  preference  for  the  society  of 
men  to  that  of  her  own  sex.  If  I  mistake  not,  tJiis  dinner 
was  followed  by  five  others  durjng  her  short  stay  at  Weimar  ; 
but  my  memoranda  do  not  enable  me  to  assign  the  exact 
dates  of  the  conversations  to  which  I  have  now  to  refer. 

She  said,  "  Buonaparte  sent  his  Marshal  to  me  "  - —  I  think 
it  was  Caulaincourt —  "to  say  that  he  would  not  permit  me 
to  receive  company ;  that  he  knew  I  was  his  enemy,  —  and 
that  my  house  was  open  to  all  his  enemies.  I  might  remain 
at  Paris,  if  I  liked,  but  I  must  live  alone.  Now,  you  must  be 
sensible  that  is  impossible,  and  therefore  I  set  out  on  this 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


113 


journey.  I  do  not  think  it  prudent  to  go  to  England  at  pres- 
ent. Buonaparte  pretended,  and  it  was  asserted  by  order  in 
the  government  newspapers,  that  his  displeasure  with  me  was 
not  on  account  of  himself,  but  because  I  was  a  partisan  of 
foreign  literature,  and  therefore  a  depreciator  of  the  literary 
glory  of  France."  This  I  may  say,  that  she  had  a  laudable 
anxiety  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  best  German  authors ; 
and  for  this  reason  she  sought  my  society,  and  I  was  not  un- 
willing to  be  made  use  of  by  her.  She  said,  and  the  general 
remark  is  true,  "  The  English  mind  is  in  the  middle  between 
the  German  and  the  French,  and  is  a  medium  of  communica- 
tion between  them.  I  understand  you  better  than  I  do  any 
German  with  whom  I  have  ever  spoken."  But  this,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  was  at  the  beginning  of  her  residence  in 
Germany,  and  long  before  her  acquaintance  with  August  Wil- 
helm  Schlegel. 

One  day  after  dinner  the  Duke  came  in.  She  introduced 
me  to  him,  saying,  "  J'ai  voulu  connaitre  la  philosophic  alle- 
mande  ;  j'ai  frappe  a  la  porte  de  tout  le  monde  —  Robinson 
seul  Fa  ouverte."  The  day  after  she  said  to  me,  "  How  like 
an  Englishman  you  behaved  yesterday  !  When  the  Duke 
came  in  you  were  in  the  middle  of  a  story,  and  after  a  slight 
interruption  you  went  on  wath  it.  No  German  would  have 
dared  to  do  this.  With  a  sovereign,  it  is  always  understood 
that  he  is  to  begin  every  subject  of  conversation.  The  others 
answer  questions  and  follow."  I  replied,  I  see  I  was  quite 
wrong,  —  I  ought  not  to  have  gone  on."  —  "  Perhaps  not ;  but 
I  was  delighted  with  you  for  doing  it."  This  subject  was  in- 
troduced by  her  in  connection  with  the  remark  that  she  could 
at  once  see  w^hether  or  not  a  German  was  accustomed  to  good 
company,  but  not  an  Englishman.  Then  she  abruptly  said, 
"Are  you  richi"  I  at  once  felt  that  this  was  not  a  compli- 
mentary question,  especially  so  introduced,  so  I  answered 
evasively,  "  As  you  please  to  take  it ;  I  am  either  a  rich  man 
of  letters,  or  a  poor  gentleman,"  —  and  with  that  she  was 
content.  She  expressed  her  pleasure  at  the  manly  and  inde- 
pendent tone  of  my  conversation  with  the  Duke,  and  her 
contempt  for  the  servile  habits  of  some  of  the  Germans, 

When  alone  with  her,  it  was  my  great  aim  to  make  her  feel 
the  transcendent  excellence  of  Goethe.  But  I  failed.  She 
seemed  utterly  incapable  of  realizing  wherein  his  excellence 
lay.  But  she  caught  by  sympathy  a  portion  of  that  admi- 
ration which  every  one  felt  for  him.    Among  those  excellences 

H 


114     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

which  she  was  unable  to  perceive  was  that  of  naivete.  I  read 
to  her  some  half-dozen  of  Goethe's  most  subtle  and  exquisite 
epigrams.  That,  for  instance,  in  which,  after  lamenting  that 
his  mistress  having  jilted  him,  and  the  Muses  done  the  same, 
he,  because  he  could  not  write,  peered  about  for  a  halter  or  a 
knife.  "  But  thou  camest,"  he  concludes,  to  save  me.  En- 
nui !  Hail,  Mother  of  the  Muses !  "  Enumerating  the  fine 
arts  which  he  practised,  "  Bringing  one  only  near  to  perfec- 
tion," he  says ;  and  so,  miserable  artist,  I  threw  away  my 
art  on  the  worst  of  materials,  writing  German  ! "  She  could 
not  comprehend  these.  She  was  precisely  what  Charles  Lamb 
supposes  all  the  Scotch  to  be,  —  incapalole  of  feeling  a  joke. 
Having  tried  her  with  a  number  of  these  ironical  epigrams, 
I  read  a  commonplace  one  against  the  German  sovereigns  for 
speaking  French  at  their  courts.  "  See  what  comes  of  it  % 
Your  subjects  are  only  too  fond  of  talking  French,"  meaning 
French  principles.  This  she  thought  admirable,  and  took 
down.  Her  success  in  spoiling  a  fine  thing  was  strikingly 
shown  in  connection  with  a  noble  saying  of  Kant,  which  I 
repeated  to  her  :  There  are  two  things  which,  the  more 
I  contemplate  them,  the  more  they  fill  my  mind  with  admi- 
ration, —  the  starry  heavens  above  me,  and  the  moral  law 
within  me."  She  sprang  up,  exclaiming,  "  Ah,  que  cela  est 
beau  !  II  faut  que  je  I'ecrive,"  —  and  years  after,  in  her  ^'  Alle- 
magne,"  I  found  it  Frenchified  thus  :  "  Car,  comme  un  philo- 
sophe  celebre  a  tres  bien  dit :  Pour  les  coeurs  sensibles,  il  y  a 
deux  choses."  The  grave  philosopher  of  Konigsberg  turned 
into  a  "  coeur  sensible  !  " 

It  is  very  apparent  from  the  correspondence  of  Goethe  and 
Schiller  that  these  two  great  poets  regarded  her  visit  to 
Weimar  as  an  infliction.  Schiller  would  not  go  near  her,  and 
Goethe  made  himself  scarce.  There  was  a  report  that  she  ex- 
torted from  the  latter,  by  some  advice  on  his  Natiirliche 
Tochter,"  this  reply,  "  Madam,  I  am  more  than  sixty  years 
old  !  "  But  this  is  not  after  his  fashion.  I  know,  however, 
that  she  did  speak  irreverently  of  that  masterly  work,  and 
provoked  me  to  the  utterance  of  a  very  rude  observation.  I 
said,  "  Madame,  vous  n'avez  pas  compris  Goethe,  et  vous  ne  le 
comprendrez  jamais."  Her  eye  flashed,  —  she  stretched  out 
her  fine  arm,  of  which  she  was  justly  vain,  and  said  in  an  em- 
phatic tone,  "  Monsieur,  je  coniprends  tout  ce  qui  merit e  d'etre 
compris  ;  ce  que  je  ne  comprends  n'est  rien."  I  bowed  lowly. 
This  was  said  at  table.    After  dinner  she  gave  me  her  hand 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


115 


very  kindly.  "  I  was  angry  for  a  moment,"  she  said,  "  but  it 
is  all  over  now."  I  believe  I  owe  the  favor  I  experienced  from 
her  to  my  perfect  frankness,  and  even  freedom. 

One  day,  in  the  presence  of  Bottiger  and  others,  she  read  a 
translation  of  that  "  Scheussliches  Gedicht "  (according  to  Her- 
der), the  ^'Braut  von  Corinth."  The  most  material  point  — 
indeed  I  might  say  the  peccant  point  —  she  had  not  perceived, 
and  therefore  it  was  left  out.  When  she  ceased  there  wa*s  a 
burst  of  praise  from  every  one  but  myself.  "  Et  vous,  Robin- 
son, vous  ne  dites  rien."  —  Madame,  je  m'occupe  en  pensant  si 
vous  avez  compris  le  veritable  sens  des  mots."  And  then  I  read 
the  words  significantly.  Bottiger  began,  "  Madame  a  parfaite- 
ment  rendu  le  vers."  —  "  Taisez-vous  !  "  she  exclaimed,  paused 
a  moment,  and  then,  giving  me  her  hand,  said,  "Vous  tous 
m'avez  louee  - —  Robinson  seul  m'a  corrigee  ;  Robinson,  je  vous 
remercie."  Yet  she  had  pleasure  in  being  complimented,  and 
took  it  as  a  sort  of  right,  —  like  a  quitrent,  not  requiring 
thanks,  but  a  receipt.  I  must  even  quote  one  of  the  very  few 
gallant  speeches  that  I  have  ever  made.  Before  her  journey  to 
Berlin,  her  court-dress  for  the  King's  birthday  ball  was  pro- 
duced at  table  after  dinner.  It  was  highly  extolled  by  the 
guests.  She  noticed  my  silence.  "  Ah,  vous,  Robinson,  vous 
ne  dites  rien  ] "  —  "  Madame,"  I  said,  in  a  tone  of  assumed 
gravity,  "  vous  etes  un  pen  exigeante.  Je  ne  puis  pas  admirer 
vous  et  votre  robe  au  memo  temps."  —  "  Ah  que  vous  etes  aim- 
able  ! "  she  exclaimed,  and  gave  me  a  smile,  as  if  she  had  said, 
^'  I  know  this  means  nothing,  but  then  these  are  the  things  we 
expect.  You  are  really  improving."  For  English  frankness, 
abstaining  from  all  compliment,  had  been  my  habit. 

My  irregular  recollection  takes  me  back  to  the  day  when  the 
Duke  joined  our  party.  She  was  very  eloquent  in  her  declama- 
tion, and  chose  as  her  topic  an  image  which  she  afterwards  in 
her  book  quoted  with  applause,  but  which,  when  I  first  men- 
tioned it  to  her,  she  could  not  comprehend.     Schelling,  in  his 

Methodology,"  calls  Architecture  "  frozen  music."  This  she 
vehemently  abused  as  absurd,  and  challenged  me  to  deny  that 
she  was  right.  Forced  to  say  something,  I  made  my  escape  by 
a  compliment.  "  I  can't  deny  that  you  have  proved  —  que 
votre  esprit  n'est  pas  gele."  —  "  Fort  bien  dit,"  the  Duke  ex- 
claimed; and  certainly  any  way  of  getting  out  of  such  a  chal- 
lenge was  better  than  accepting  it.  There  has  appeared  since 
in  English  a  treatise  on  Greek  Architecture  bearing  the  signifi- 
cant title,  "  The  Music  of  the  Eye." 


116     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 


I  will  conclude  what  I  have  to  say  of  Madame  de  Stael  per- 
sonally, before  I  notice  her  companions.  After  some  half-dozen 
dinners,  and  as  many  or  more  tete-a-tetes,  she  went  to  Berlin, 
from  which  place  she  wrote  to  me,  proposing  that  I  should  re- 
move to  Berlin,  take  a  lodging  in  her  neighborhood,  and  be  her 
constant  guest  at  table.  She  would  introduce  me  to  the  liter- 
ary world  at  Berlin.  This  proposal  was  too  advantageous  to  be 
declined.  Such  an  introduction  would  have  offered  me  prob- 
ably more  advantages  than  I  could  have  profitably  made  use 
of.  I  made  up  my  mind  to  remove  in  the  summer.  It  was, 
therefore,  with  much  sorrow  that  I  heard,  first,  of  the  death  of 
her  father,  the  minister  Necker,  and  then  that  she  had  arrived 
at  Weimar,  to  stay  a  few  days  on  her  way  to  Switzerland.  I 
of  course  waited  on  her.  She  was  loud  in  her  expression  of 
grief  at  the  loss  which  she  had  sustained.  But  her  feeling  was 
sincere.  It  would  be  j  udging  uncandidly  to  infer  that  she  did 
not  feel  because  she  had  leisure  to  be  eloquent.  Among  her 
declamatory  bursts  was  this  :  "  Oh  !  il  n'etait  pas  mon  pere. 
II  etait  mon  frere,  mon  fils,  mon  mari,  mon  Tout !  " 

I  will  now  refer  to  those  with  whom  I  became  acquainted 
through  her,  or  whom  I  saw  in  her  company.  Of  these  by  far 
the  most  eminent  was  Benjamin  Constant.  The  slanderous 
world,  at  least  in  France,  has  always  affected  to  consider  him 
her  lover.  In  a  society  so  generally  profligate  as  that  of  the 
Parisian  beau-monde,  where  the  ascertained  fact  would  be 
scarcely  a  subject  of  blame,  and  where  any  expressed  doubt  of 
the  truth  of  the  report  would  expose  him  who  dared  utter  it  to 
contempt,  no  wonder  that  this  amour  was  taken  for  granted. 
It  would  never  have  occurred  to  me.  She  appeared  to  be  the 
elder,  and  called  him  "  Mon  Benjamin,"  as  she  might  have  done 
a  son  or  a  younger  brother.  He,  on  the  contrary,  never  spoke 
of  her  lightly,  but  always  with  respect  as  Madame  de  Stael. 
At  her  table  he  occupied  the  place  of  the  master  of  the  house ; 
he  was  quite  the  ami  de  la  maison.  The  worst  thing  about  him 
was  that  he  was  separated  from  his  wife,  to  whom  it  was  said 
he  had  been  a  bad  husband.  He  was  a  declared  enemy  to 
Buonaparte,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Tribunat  which  Buona- 
parte abolished.  After  the  Restoration  he  became  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  Legislative  Body.  He  was  by  birth  a 
Swiss.  As  a  man  of  letters  he  was  highly  esteemed,  and  had  a 
first-rate  reputation  as  a  philosophical  jurist.  A  zealous  anti- 
Eomanist,  he  wrote  on  Christianity.  I  should  call  him  rather 
a  sentimental  than  a  Bible  Christian  ;  but  I  should  not  be  war- 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


117 


ranted  in  saying  that  he  was  an  anti-supernaturalist.  A  novel 
of  his,  "  Adolphe,"  was  said  to  flivor  free  opinions  on  marriage. 
I  heard  that  he  had  translated  Godwin's  ^'  Political  Justice/' 
and  inquired  whether  he  had  really  done  so.  He  said  he  had 
made  the  translation,  but  had  declined  to  publish  it,  because 
he  thought  it  might  injure  the  good  cause  in  the  then  state  of 
pubhc  opinion.  Sooner  or  later,  however,  the  work  was  to  be 
pubhshed,  for  he  regarded  the  original  as  one  of  the  master- 
works  of  the  age.  In  saying  that  his  tone  towards  Madame  de 
Stael  was  respectful  rather  than  tender,  I  do  not  mean  that  it 
was  deferential  towards  her  opinions.  On  the  contrary,  his  op- 
position was  unsparing,  and  though  he  had  not  her  colloquial 
eloquence,  I  thought  he  had  always  the  advantage  of  her  in 
argument.  One  remark  on  the  French  national  character  was 
made  by  him,  which  is  worth  quoting.  I  inquired  whether 
Buonaparte  really  possessed  the  affections  of  the  French 
people.  He  said,  "  Certainly  not.  But  the  French,"  he  add- 
ed, "  are  so  vain,  that  they  cannot  bear  the  insignificance  of 
neutrality,  and  will  affect  to  belong  to  the  triumphant  party 
from  an  unwillingness  to  confess  that  they  belong  to  the  con- 
quered." Hence  Robespierre  and  Buonaparte  have  both,  in 
their  respective  times,  had  the  tacit  support  of  a  nation  which 
in  reality  was  not  attached  to  either  of  them. 

I  have  already  said  that  Wieland  was  the  most  distinguished 
of  Madame  de  Stael's  German  visitors.  He  was  frequent  in  his 
attendance  on  her,  and  loud  in  his  admiration.  One  day,  when 
she  was  declaiming  with  her  usual  eloquence,  he  tm:*ned  to  me, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Dass  ich,  in  meinem  hohen  Alter,  solche  eine 
Frau  sehen  sollte  !  "  (That  I,  in  my  old  age,  should  see  such 
a  woman  !  )  I  had  remarked  to  her  that  of  all  the  German 
great  writers  his  mind  was  the  most  French.  I  am  aware  of 
it,"  she  said,  and  therefore  I  do  not  think  much  of  him.  I 
like  a  German  to  be  a  German." 

I,  at  the  same  time,  told  her  that  of  all  the  then  eminent 
writers,  the  two  Schlegels  were  those  who  possessed  in  a  high 
degree,  and  beyond  all  others,  that  peculiar  mental  quality 
which  the  French  call  esprit,  as  distinguished  from  genius, 
understanding,  &c.  ;  and  I  advised  her  to  cultivate  the  ac- 
quaintance of  A.  W.  Schlegel,  who  was  then  at  Berlin.  She 
did  what  I  advised,  and  more  ;  she  engaged  A.  W.  Schlegel  to 
reside  with  her  in  the  character  of  tutor  to  her  children.  And, 
in  fact,  the  knowledge  she  would  obtain  from  him  was  in  every 
respect  so  superior  to  anything  I  could  communicate  to  her, 


118     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

that  I  take  very  little  credit  for  any  part  I  may  have  had  in 
supplying  the  materials  of  her  book.  There  are,  indeed,  many 
opinions  in  the  book  which  Schlegel  probably  would  have  pro- 
tested against  being  thought  to  have  -suggested.  Yet  she  said 
to  me  years  after,  "  You  know  very  well  that  I  could  never 
have  written  that  book  without  the  assistance  of  Schlegel." 
But  all  that  is  best  in  that  work,  the  section  on  life  and  man- 
ners in  Germany,  came  from  herself  alone. 

Next  to  Wieland,  the  most  eminent  visitor  whom  I  recollect 
seeing  at  her  table,  was  the  famous  Swiss  historian,  Johannes 
von  Miiller  of  Schaflfhausen.  I  saw  him  frequently,  and  what 
I  remarked  in  him  deserves  to  be  noticed  as  bearing  on  his  life 
and  conduct  in  middle  age.  He  is  the  most  illustrious  of 
literary  turncoats  on  record, —  if  he  deserve  that  degrading 
character,  which  possibly  he  does  not. 

When  he  first  made  himself  known  as  a  political  writer,  he 
was  librarian  to  the  Elector  of  Mayence ;  and  in  that  posi- 
tion he  wfote,  in  1782,  a  famous  pamphlet  on  the  celebrated 
visit  of  the  Pope  to  Joseph  II.  at  Vienna.  In  this  pamphlet, 
entitled  "  Reisen  der  Pabste,"  he  represented  the  Papal  power 
as  exercised  in  favor  of  popular  liberty  against  the  great  mili- 
tary governments.  His  next  and  still  more  famous  pamphlet 
was  the  "  Fiirstenbund  "  (League  of  Princes),  written  in  1787, 
and  advocating  the  cause  of  the  Princes  of  Germany  against 
the  House  of  Austria.  This  was  followed  by  his  entering  into 
the  service  of  the  Emperor.  In  that  service  he  remained  many 
years.  During  this  time  he  continued  the  great  work  on 
which  his  fame  chiefly  rests,  The  History  of  the  Swiss 
League,"  which  he  commenced  when  young,  and  which  was,  in 
fact,  the  business  of  his  life.  On  the  subject  of  his  connection 
with  the  Austrian  government,  I  heard  him  say  :  "  The  gov- 
ernment passed  a  law  which  was  aimed  at  me  particularly.  It 
was  a  prohibition  of  all  subjects  printing  any  book  out  of  the 
dominions  of  the  Emperor.  The  moment  this  law  was  passed 
I  made  my  preparations  for  quitting  Vienna.  I  began  by 
sending  out  of  the  country  all  my  MSS.  and  my  papers  of 
every  description.  I  sent  them  in  small  parcels  by  many  per- 
sons, and  not  one  was  lost."  When  I  saw  him  at  Weimar  he  was, 
as  I  learn  from  the  "  Conversations-Lexicon,"  on  his  w^ay  to 
Berlin.  He  at  this  time  entered  into  the  service  of  the  King 
of  Prussia.  Yet  my  impression  was  that  the  tone  of  his  con- 
versation was  by  no  means  favorable  to  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment.   And  being,  as  he  was,  anti-French  in  his  feelings, 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


119 


though  perfectly  liberal  in  his  political  opinions,  and  a  sturdy 
Protestant,  he  might  well  be  hostile  to  that  fatal  policy  which 
for  a  time  made  Prussia  the  ally  of  France,  and  the  tool  of 
Buonaparte.  After  the  fall  of  the  Prussian  government,  Miiller 
went  into  the  service  of  the  King  of  Westphalia,  in  which  he 
died  in  1809  ;  and,  as  I  heard,  stayed  by  his  death  proceed- 
ings against  him  for  writings  in  opposition  to  the  Gallo-German 
government  to  which  he  belonged.  Notwithstanding  his  hav- 
ing served  so  many  rulers  of  an  opposite  character,  my  im- 
pression, from  what  I  saw  and  heard  of  him,  was,  that  he  w^as 
an  honest  and  conscientious  man,  and  that,  like  many  others 
who  have  incurred  the  reproach  of  inconsistency,  he  acted  on 
the  maxim  of  doing  all  the  good  he  could  in  any  station  in 
which  he  might  at  the  time  be  placed, — not  hesitating  to  leave 
that  station  when  he  found  himself  no  longer  able  to  do  good 
in  it. 

Miiller's  German  pronunciation  was  extremely  disagreeable. 
It  was  excessively  Swiss,  i.  e.  the  guttural  sounds  were  exag- 
gerated in  it.    His  French,  on  the  contrary,  was  agreeable. 

While  he  was  at  Weimar  I  witnessed  the  performance  of 
"  Wilhelm  Tell,"  when  the  following  incident  took  place.  In 
the  last  act  an  occurrence  is  introduced  for  the  sake  of  a  great 
moral  contrast,  though  at  variance  equally  with  history  and 
dramatic  unity.  Parricida,  the  murderer  of  the  Emperor,  is 
coming  on  the  stage,  and  the  murder  is  spoken  of  On  the 
evening  to  which  I  refer,  when  MuUer  was  present,  there  was 
introduced,  as  I  understood  for  the  first  time,  this  passage  : 
"  How  do  you  know  it '? "  —  "  It  is  certain  ;  a  man  worthy 
of  credit,  Johannes  Miiller,  brought  it  from  SchafFhausen." 
The  name  was  pronounced  aloud,  and  was  followed  by  up- 
roarious applause.  It  was  talked  of  next  day  as  a  joke.  But 
in  my  edition  the  passage  stands  in  the  text  without  any  note. 

At  Madame  de  Stael's  house  I  first  became  acquainted  with 
several  of  the  Weimar  court,  and  so  the  way  was  prepared  for 
that  introduction  which  in  the  following  winter  became  of 
some  importance.  My  name  was  known  pretty  generally.  A 
prominent  court  lady  was  Fraulein  von  Geckhausen,  a  shrewd 
lively  little  woman,  who  noticed  me  obligingly.  Since  her 
death  the  gossiping  books  speak  of  her  as  malignant  and  in- 
triguing ;  for  myself,  however,  I  have  none  but  agreeable  rec- 
ollections of  her.  She  read  to  me  a  short  note  to  Madame  de 
Stael,  in  which  the  compliments  seemed '  to  me  to  have  an  ex- 
travagance bordering  on  insincerity.    I  therefore  ventured  to 


120     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 


say,  Do  me  the  favor,  Fraulein,  to  read  that  in  German." 
She  began,  stammered,  and  stopped.  "  Das  lasst  sich  nicht 
Deutsch  sagen."  (You  can't  say  that  in  German.)  —  ^'  I  know 
you  cannot ;  shall  I  tell  you  the^  reason  why  The  German  is 
an  honest  language,  and  your  German  habits  are  honest. 
When,  therefore,  you  have  anything  to  say  of  mere  compli- 
ment, which  means  nothing,  you  feel  as  you  say,  *  Das  lasst 
sich  nicht  Deutsch  sagen.' " 

In  the  present  University  session  I  saw  a  little  of  Schiller, 
but  not  much.  He  had  always  the  appearance  of  being  un- 
well. His  amiable  wife,  and  her  very  clever  sister,  and  indeed 
all  those  who  were  about  him,  appeared  to  watch  over  him  as 
an  object  of  solicitude.  While  the  admiration  excited  by 
Goethe  was  accompanied  by  aw^e,  that  which  was  felt  towards 
Schiller  was  mixed  with  love  and  pity.  I  may  here  mention 
that  at  the  end  of  a  very  early,  if  not  the  first,  performance  of 
Die  Braut  von  Messina,"  a  young  doctor,  son  of  the  learned 
Professor  Schulz,  the  philologer,  rose  in  the  pit  and  exclaimed, 
"  Schiller  der  grosse  Dichter  soil  leben  (Long  live  Schiller, 
the  great  poet) !  The  numerous  students  in  the  pit  all  joined 
in  the  cry,  and  there  was  a  regular  three  times  three  of  applause. 
But  this  was  regarded  as  a  great  impropriety  and  breach  of 
decorum  in  the  presence  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess,  and  we 
heard  that  young  Schulz  received  a  severe  reproof  from  the 
government. 

In  March,  1804,  I  had  a  re-introduction,  and  not  a  mere 
formal  one,  as  the  first  was,  to  Goethe.  It  was  at  the  theatre. 
He  was  sitting  in  his  arm-chair,  in  the  front  row  of  the  pit. 
I  had  repeatedly  taken  a  seat  near  enough  to  him  to  have 
an  occasional  glimpse  of  his  countenance,  but  I  never  pre- 
sented myself  to  his  notice.  On  the  evening  of  which  I 
write,  I  was  sitting  immediately  behind  him.  Benjamin  Con- 
stant came  in  with  him,  and  after  shaking  hands  with  me, 
whispered  my  name  to  Goethe,  who  immediately  turned  round, 
and  with  a  smile  as  ingratiating  as  his  ordinary  expression  was 
cold  and  forbidding,  said,  ^'  Wissen  Sie,  Herr  Robinson,  dass 
Sie  mich  beleidigt  haben  1 "  (Do  you  know,  Mr.  Bobinson, 
that  you  have  affronted  me  f)  —  "  How  is  that  possible,  Herr 
Geheimerath  "  —  Why,  you  have  visited  every  one  at  W ei- 
mar  excepting  me."  I  felt  that  I  blushed,  as  I  said,  "  You 
may  imagine  any  cause,  Herr  Geheimerath,  but  want  of  rev- 
erence." He  smiled  and  said,  "  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  you  at 
any  time."    I  left  my  card,  of  course,  the  next  morning,  and 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


121 


the  next  day  there  came  an  invitation  to  dinner ;  and  I  dined 
-   with  him  several  times  before  I  left  the  neighborhood  of  Wei- 
mar. 

It  was,  I  believe,  on  the  very  evening  on  which  he  spoke 
to  me  in  the  theatre,  that  I  asked  him  whether  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  our  "  Venice  Preserved."  ^'  0,  very  well,  —  the 
comic  scenes  are  particularly  good."  I  actually  started  at 
so  strange  a  judgment.  Indeed  !  in  England  those  scenes 
are  considered  so  very  bad  that  they  are  never  acted."  —  ''I 
can  understand  that ;  and  yet,  on  reflection,  you  will  perceive 
that  those  scenes  are  quite  essential  to  the  piece.  It  is  they 
alone  which  account  for,  and  go  near  to  justify,  the  conspir- 
acy ;  for  we  see  in  them  how  utterly  unfit  for  government  the 
Senate  had  become."  I  recognized  at  once  the  truth  of  the 
criticism,  and  felt  ashamed  of  myself  for  not  having  thought  of 
it  before.  In  all  his  conversation  he  spoke  in  the  most  simple 
and  unpretending  manner,  but  there  was  in  it  remarkable 
significance,  —  a  quiet  strength,  a  power  without  effort,  remind- 
ing me  of  what  I  read  of  a  painting,  in  which  a  man  was 
wrestling  with  an  angel.  An  ignorant  man  abused  the  picture 
on  the  ground  that  in  the  angel  there  was  no  sign  of  effort,  — 
no  muscle  was  strained.  But  this  was  designed  to  show  the  an- 
gelic nature.    It  is  the  same  in  the  Greek  sculpture  of  the  gods. 

When  Madame  de  Stael  returned  from  Berlin,  and  brought 
A.  W.  Schlegel  in  her  train,  I  dined  at  Goethe's  with  Schlegel, 
Tieck  the  sculptor,  and  Riemer.  No  one  else  but  Madame 
Goethe  was  present.  I  was  struck  by  the  contrast  between 
Schlegel  and  Goethe.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  repose  of 
Goethe,  whereas  on  Schlegel's  part  there  was  an  evident  striv- 
ing after  pun  and  point.  Of  these  I  recollect  nothing  but 
that  Bottiger  was  his  butt,  whom  he  compared  to  Bardolph. 
From  Goethe  I  remember  a  word  or  two  of  deep  significance. 
He  said  to  Schlegel :  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  your  brother 
means  to  translate  the  '  Sakontala.'  I  shall  rejoice  to  see  that 
poem  as  it  is,  instead  of  as  it  is  represented  by  the  moral  Eng- 
lishman." And  there  was  a  sarcastic  emphasis  on  the  word 
^^moralischen."  He  then  went  on,  "Eigentlich  aber  basse 
ich  alles  Orientalische."  (But  in  truth,  I  hate  everything  Ori- 
ental.) By  which,  probably,  he  meant  rather  that  he  infinitely 
preferred  the  Greek  to  the  Oriental  mind.  He  continued  :  I 
am  glad  there  is  something  that  I  hate  ;  for,  otherwise,  one  is 
in  danger  of  falling  into  the  dull  habit  of  literally  finding  all 
things  good  in  their  place,  —  and  that  is  destructive  of  all 

VOL.  I.  6 


122     KExMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

true  feeling."  This  casts  some  light  on  his  sentiments  respect- 
ing the  two  religions  which  had  their  origin  in  the  East.  And 
yet  this  might  have  been  a  transient  feeling,  for  in  less  than 
ten  years  he  withdrew  himself  from  the  contemplation  of  the 
miseries  which  then  surrounded  him,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
study  of  Oriental  literature.  The  result  is  given  in  his 
West-Eastern  Divan.'' 

Were  I  a  younger  man,  and  did  I  fancy  myself  competent  to 
the  task,  I  would  collect  and  translate  all  that  Goethe  has 
■written  on  Judaism  and  Christianity.  It  should  be  published 
without  note  or  comment,  —  for  it  is  unlike  anything  I  have 
ever  met  with  from  believer  or  unbeliever,  and  is  absolutely 
■unique.  In  one  of  his  private  letters  to  Lavater,  he  makes  a 
distinction,  for  which  our  ordinary  language  has  no  equivalent. 
He  says,  I  am  by  no  means  a?^^^-Christian,  not  even  -Chris- 
tian, but  I  am  indeed  nicht-Christian."  The  difference  between 
un-Christian  and  nicht-Christian  may  be  conceived. 

It  was  at  no  great  distance  from  this  time  that  I  called  on 
Goethe  to  see  whether  I  could  induce  him  to  act  as  a  mediator 
between  the  Duke  and  the  students,  in  the  quarrel  that 
threatened  an  Auszug,  or  withdrawal,  of  the  best  young  men 
of  the  University.  Having  listened  to  my  representations,  he 
coolly  said  :  "  So  is  it  in  these  matters  of  police,  in  which  both 
parties  are  right.  The  students,  seeing  the  matter  from  their 
point  of  view,  are  perfectly  in  the  right.  But  then  the  Duke 
is  equally  in  the  right ;  he  has  his  own  mode  of  looking  at 
things  from  his  point  of  view  as  sovereign." 

During  these  occasional  visits,  I  saw  the  companion  of 
Goethe's  table,  the  mother  of  his  children.  As  is  well  known, 
she  afterwards  became  his  wife.  She  had  an  agreeable  coun- 
tenance, and  a  cordial  tone.  Her  manners  were  unceremoni- 
ous and  free.  Queer  stories  are  told  of  her  undignified  ways 
and  the  freedom  of  her  intercourse  with  him  when  she  was 
young ;  but  she  had  outgrown  all  such  eccentricities  when  I 
saw  her. 

I  have  already  referred  to  Goethe's  son  coming  to  Madame 
de  Stael  with  his  album.  She  allowed  me  to  copy  the  two 
first  verses  of  the  little  volume.  I  have  never  seen  them  in 
print. 

In  Goethe's  hand  were  these  distichs  :  — 

Gonnern  reiche  das  Buch,  und  reich'  es  Freund  und  Gespielen; 
Reich'  es  dem  Eilenden  hiii,  der  sich  voriiber  bewegt  — 
Wer  des  freundlichen  Worts,  des  Namens  Gabe  dir  spendet 
Hiiufet  den  edlen  Schatz  holden  Erinnerns  dir  an." 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


123 


That  is  :  — 

"  Hand  to  the  Patron  the  book,  and  hand  it  to  friend  and  companion; 
Hand  to  the  traveller  too,  — rapidly  passing  away  : 
He  who  with  friendly  gift  of  a  word  or  a  name  thee  enriches^" 

[The  last  Hne  is  wanting  in  the  translation.  The  meaning 
is  :  — 

*'  Stores  up  a  noble  treasure  of  tender  remembrance  for  thee.*'] 

In  Schiller's  hand  were  these  lines  :  — 

"  Holder  Knab',  dich  liebt  das  Gliick  denn  es  gab  dir  der  Giiter, 
Erstes,  Kostliches,  dich  riihmend  des  Vaters  zu  freuen 
Jetzo  kennest  du  nur  des  Freundes  liebende  Seele. 
Wenn  du  zum  Manne  gereift,  wirst  du  die  Worte  verstehen. 
Dann  erst  kehrst  du  zuriick  mit  reiner  Liebe  Gefiihle 
An  des  Trefflichen  Brust  der  dir  jetzt  Vater  nur  ist; 
Lass  ihn  leben  in  dir,  wie  er  lebt  in  den  ewigen  Werken, 
Die  er,  der  Einzige,  uns  bliihend  unsterblich  erschuf, 
Und  das  herzliche  Band  der  wechselnden  Neigung  und  Treue 
Das  die  Viiter  verkniipft,  binde  die  Sohne  nur  fort." 

"  Cherished  boy  I  thou  art  the  favorite  of  Fortune,  for  she  gave  thee  the  first 
and  most  precious  of  gifts,  to  rejoice  in  the  glory  of  thy  father.  Now  thou 
knowest  only  the  loving  heart  of  the  friend.  When  thou  art  ripened  into 
manhood  thou  wilt  understand  the  words.  Thou  wilt  then  go  back  with 
feelings  of  pure  love  to  the  bosom  of  the  excellent  who  at  present  is  merely 
father  to  thee.  Let  him  live  in  thee,  as  he  lives  in  the  eternal  works  which  he, 
the  only  one,  produced  for  us  in  everlasting  bloom ;  and  may  the  heartfelt  bond 
of  reciprocal  inclination  and  confidence,  which  united  the  jfathers,  continue  to 
unite  the  sons!  " 

The  son  of  Prorector  Voigt  was  among  the  students  with 
whom  I  became  most  intimate.  Later  in  life  he  became  Pro- 
fessor of  Botany  at  Jena,  and  acquired  reputation  by  his 
writings.  Of  the  kindliness  of  his  disposition  I  have  a  deep 
sense ;  our  friendship  has  retained  its  original  warmth  for  forty 
years,  and  during  that  time  there  has  been  no  interruption  to 
our  correspondence.  At  the  time  of  which  I  am  now  writing 
he  had  completed  his  studies,  and  settled  at  Gotha  with  the 
object  of  practising  as  a  physician ;  and  there  I  paid  him  a 
visit.  An  Englishman  was  then  a  phenomenon  in  the  little 
town,  but  I  was  cordially  received  in  Yoigt's  circle  of  acquaint- 
ance ;  and  I  recollect  that  when  I  had  danced  with  a  lady 
and  handed  her  to  a  seat,  she  somewhat  surprised  me  by 
saying,  "  And  now,  sir,  I  have  to  tell  you  that  3^ou  are  the  last 
gentleman  T  shall  ever  dance  with  in  company."  —  "  Indeed, 
madam.  How  is  that '?  "  —  "  Why,  sir,  to-morrow  my  daughter 
is  to  be  confirmed,  and  I  have  always  been  of  opinion  that 
when  a  lady  is  so  far  advanced  in  life  as  to  have  a  daughter 
confirmed,  it  is  time  to  give  up  dancing." 


124     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

But  my  object  in  referring  to  this  visit  to  Gotha  is  to  say 
something  of  a  man  whose  name  belongs  to  the  history  of  the 
last  century,  though  it  was  raised  to  undue  importance  by  the 
malignant  exaggerations  of  party  spirit. 

During  the  heat  of  the  first  Revolution  in  France,  two 
works  appeared,  one  in  England,  by  Professor  Robison  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  the  other,  the  more  voluminous,  in  France,  by  the 
Abbe  Barruel,  with  the  common  object  of  showing  that  the 
Revolution  and  all  the  horrors  consequent  on  it  were  the  effect 
of  a  conspiracy  deliberately  planned  and  carried  out  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe  by  an  Order  of  Infidels,  who,  by  means 
of  secret  societies,  planned  to  destroy  all  thrones,  overturn  all 
altars,  and  completely  upset  the  established  order  of  things. 
The  society  to  which  this  scheme  was  ascribed  had  the  name 
of  The  Illuminati.  They  were  supposed  to  have  ramifications 
everywhere.  The  Kantian  philosophy  was  one  of  the  instru- 
ments. Indeed,  more  or  less,  every  union  of  men,  and  every 
variety  of  thought,  opposed  to  monarchy  and  popery  had  about 
it  the  suspicion  of  "  Illumination."  And  of  this  tremendous 
evil  the  founder  and  archdeacon  was  Adam  Weishaupt.  When 
I  found  that  this  notorious  man  was  leading  a  secluded  life  in 
Gotha,  I  determined  to  call  on  him.  On  entering  his  room, 
I  remarked  that  he  was  both  embarrassed  and  reserved,  and  it 
was  not  till  I  had  introduced  myself  as  one  anxious  to  see  him, 
though  I  knew  of  him  only  from  his  enemies,  that  he  seemed 
willing  to  enter  into  conversation  with  me.  On  my  taking 
leave,  he  even  invited  me  to  repeat  my  visit,  and  I  went  to 
him  three  times.  He  frankly  told  me  that  I  was  let  into  his 
house  through  the  stupidity  of  a  servant-girl,  whom  he  was 
on  the  point  of  turning  away  for  it ;  but  he  had  forgiven  her 
on  account  of  the  pleasure  he  had  derived  from  our  interviews. 
He  said  he  held  in  abhorrence  all  travellers  who  made  imper- 
tinent calls,  and  especially  Englishmen.  He  would  not  gratify 
the  curiosity  of  such  men.  But  my  candor  and  openness  had 
rendered  him  willing  to  make  an  exception  in  my  case.  In 
saying  this  he  was,  perhaps,  not  departing  from  that  char- 
acter which  his  enemies  ascribed  to  him.  Indeed,  as  is 
usual  in  such  instances,  the  statements  made  concerning 
him  are  founded  in  truth.  The  falsehood  lies  in  the  exag- 
geration of  some  parts  of  his  history,  and  in  the  omission  of 
others. 

Weishaupt  would  not  have  denied  that  he  was  brought  up 
among  the  Jesuits,  or  that  in  his  opposition  to  them  he  availed 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


125 


himself  of  the  resources  which  he  acquired  through  his  con- 
nection with  them.  And  he  did  form  a  secret  Order  at  a  time 
when,  especially  in  the  South  of  Germany,  an  open  expression 
of  free  opinions  would  have  endangered  liberty,  and  perhaps 
life.  That  the  end  was  good  according  to  his  first  intention, 
and  that  there  was  at  all  times,  perhaps,  a  mixture  of  good- 
ness in  his  motives,  may  reasonably  be  conceded.  Many  emi- 
nent men  (Baron  Knigge  was  one  of  the  ablest)  attached  them- 
selves to  the  Order.  It  has  always  been  said  that  Maximilian, 
the  first  king  of  Bavaria,  was  favorable  to  it ;  nor  does  the 
history  of  his  reign  contradict  the  report.  The  Church,  the 
courtiers,  and  the  aristocracy  were,  however,  too  powerful  for 
the  conspirators.  The  society  was  broken  up,  a  fierce  perse- 
cution arose,  and  Weishaupt  was  happy  in  making  his  escape, 
and  obtaining  the  protection  of  the  learned  Duke  of  Saxe- 
Gotha  and  the  Duchess.  When  I  saw  him  he  was  about  fifty- 
six  years  of  age,  and  his  appearance  was  in  no  respect  prepos- 
sessing ;  his  features  were  coarse,  his  voice  harsh,  and  his 
manners  abrupt  and  awkward.  But  his  conversation  made  a 
strong  impression  on  my  mind.  He  showed  no  great  anxiety 
to  vindicate  himself  against  the  prevailing  opinion  respecting 
him,  or  to  dwell  on  those  sentiments  which  would  be  most 
likely  to  gain  popular  favor ;  on  the  contrary,  he  uttered  things 
which  it  requires  boldness  and  indifierence  to  evil  report  to 
express.  Among  his  sayings,  one  was  delivered  with  peculiar 
emphasis  :  "  One  of  my  tests  of  character  is  what  a  man  says 
about  principle.  A  weak  man  is  always  talking  of  acting  on 
principle.  An  able  man  does  always  the  right  thing  at  the 
right  moment,  and  therein  he  shows  himself  to  be  able."  He 
even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  there  are  occasions  when  it  is 
foolish  to  be  just.  He  took  a  desponding  view  of  human  life, 
and  seemed  to  think  human  society  unimprovable.  No  won- 
der !  He  had  himself  failed  as  a  reformer,  and  therefore 
thought  no  one  else  could  succeed.  He  said,  "  There  is  but 
one  schoolmaster  whose  teaching  is  always  effectual,  —  Neces- 
sity. Evil  flourishes  till  it  destroys  itself  So  it  was  with 
Popery  ;  so  it  will  be  with  monarchy."  And  he  added,  some- 
what diffusely,  that  there  is  a  constant  interchange  of  pro- 
gressive evil  and  partial  reform.  I  said,  I  could  not  believe 
that  his  view  was  a  correct  one.  He  smiled  and  said,  "  You 
are  quite  right ;  if  you  can  help  it,  don't  believe  it."  I  said, 
"  You  would  not  teach  this  to  your  children."  —  "  If  I  attempt- 
ed it,"  he  answered,  "  I  should  not  succeed.    The  young,  w^ith 


126     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 


their  good  hearts,  cannot  believe  it."  —  "  But  old  men  with 
cold  heads  ? "  I  said  in  a  voice  of  interrogation.  "  I  am  sorry 
for  it,"  he  said,  "  but  it  is  true." 

The  practical  writings  of  Weishaupt  are  of  value ;  the 
speculative  were  never  esteemed.  He  wrote  against  the  Kan- 
tian philosophy,  but  his  works  were  not  read.  His  "  Pythag- 
oras," as  he  said,  contains  all  the  statistics  of  Secret  Societies. 
But  the  vast  extension  of  education  since  Weishaupt's  time 
has  rendered  this  learning  of  less  importance  than  it  was  even 
then.  He  is  said  to  have  been  an  admirer  of  Buonaparte. 
This  is  natural  with  his  peculiar  habit  of  thought.  For  the 
French  character  he  professed  great  contempt,  and  for  the 
English  high  admiration.  To  poetry  and  the  fine  arts  he  was 
indifferent. 

At  the  Easter  recess  of  1804,  the  students  who  had  threat- 
ened to  leave  the  University,  unless  the  demands  in  their  me- 
morial were  complied  with,  took  their  departure  to  pursue 
their  studies  elsewhere.  Jena  seemed  deserted  ;  I  at  least  lost 
the  greater  number  of  my  younger  friends  and  companions. 
A  large  proportion  of  them  repaired  to  the  recently  established 
University  of  Wiirzburg. 

It  happened,  fortunately  for  myself,  that,  soon  after  this 
loss,  I  became  intimate  with  one  for  whom,  of  all  my  German 
acquaintance,  I  have  felt  the  warmest  regard :  this  was  Major 
von  Knebel.  He  was  at  the  time  just  sixty  years  of  age.  He 
had  a  fine  military  figure,  and  his  temper  and  character  were 
much  better  adapted  to  arms  than  to  scholarship  ;  yet  his 
tastes  were  literary.  A  Franconian  nobleman  by  birth,  he  en- 
tered early  into  the  service  of  Prussia,  and  was  brought  up 
under  the  great  Frederick.  But  the  restraints  and  subordina- 
tion of  a  military  life  were  repugnant  to  him.  He  loved  poetry 
intensely,  and  even  wrote  verses.  On  a  journey  which  he  ac- 
cidentally made  through  Weimar,  when  under  the  government 
of  the  Duchess-Dowager  Amelia,  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
make  himself  acceptable  to  the  Duchess  Regent.  She  obtained 
from  the  King  of  Prussia  his  discharge  from  military  duties, 
and  he  accepted  office  in  the  Court  of  Weimar  as  governor 
of  the  Prince  Constantine,  the  second  son,  and  became  his 
travelling  companion  in  France.  This  was  just  at  that  genial 
period  when  Goethe  became,  not  precisely  the  governor,  but 
the  intimate  companion  of  the  heir  and  subsequent  Duke 
of  Saxe- Weimar  who  when  I  was  at  Weimar  was  the  sover- 
eign. 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


127 


Knebel,  therefore,  was  a  participator  in  all  those  acts  of  ex- 
travagance of  which  public  report  was  so  full,  and  which  have 
formed  a  subject  for  so  much  political  and  literary  gossip. 
When  his  pupil  died,  which  was  in  a  few  years,  he  had  a  pen- 
sion allowed  him,  with  the  rank  and  emoluments  of  a  Major ;  and 
thus  he  was  sufficiently  provided  for  till  the  end  of  his  days. 
He  was  without  the  early  training  of  the  scholar  and  the 
habits  of  the  literary  man  ;  but  he  had  the  tastes  of  a  delicate 
organization,  and  all  the  feelings  of  a  man  of  honor  and  re- 
fined sensibility,  with  a  choleric  temperament.  His  sense  of 
honor  rendered  him  very  reserved  on  all  matters  connected  with 
the  Court,  especially  with  the  Duke  and  Goethe.  That  sense 
of  honor  at  the  same  time  also  kept  him  aloof  from  the  Court. 
While  he  shared  the  admiration  which  was  universally  felt  to- 
wards Goethe,  there  was  something  which  prevented  the  perfect 
feeling  of  cordiality  which  existed  between  Herder  and  him- 
self In  that  division  of  literary  men  at  Weimar,  which  placed 
Goethe  and  Schiller  at  the  head  of  one  set,  and  Wieland  and 
Herder  at  the  head  of  the  other,  there  could  be  no  question  as 
to  which  Knebel  attached  himself. 

His  own  taste  led  him  to  occupy  himself  with  translations. 
He  published  a  German  version  of  the  "  Elegies  of  Proper- 
tius,"  and  devoted  many  years  of  his  life  to  the  production  of 
a  German  Lucretius.  In  the  course  of  his  studies  he  had 
formed  a  high  opinion  of  the  critical  taste  of  Gilbert  Wake- 
field, whose  text  he  adopted  ;  and  it  added  not  a  little  to 
my  merit  in  his  eyes,  that  I  had  known  Wakefield.  Ele- 
giac tenderness  and  sententious  wisdom  were  the  directions 
which  his  faculty  of  verse-making  took.  He  was  a  moral 
poet,  and  full  of  "natural  piety,"  to  borrow  Bacon's  expres- 
sion. 

From  the  moment  of  my  being  known  to  Knebel,  I  became 
intimate  in  his  house.  There  was  none  into  which  I  went 
with  so  much  pleasure,  and  Knebel  seemed  to  receive  no  one 
with  so  much  satisfaction.  He  had  a  great  deal  to  learn  from 
me  in  English  literature,  and  I  from  him  in  German.  Though 
our  opportunities  of  intercourse  lasted  but  a  short  time,  I 
yet  attached  greater  value  to  his  acquaintance  than  any 
other  I  formed  in  Germany.  He  had  not  the  means  of  giv- 
ing expensive  entertainments,  nor  was  it  the  custom  in 
J ena  to  give  them  ;  but  he  was  by  nature  liberal  and  most 
gentlemanly  in  all  his  feelings.  He  was  an  object  of  uni- 
versal love. 


128     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 


H.  C.  E.  TO  HIS  Brother.* 

Jena,  December  12,  1804. 
I  met  Knebel  first  at  the  house  of  Frau  von  Wollzogen, 
and  was  immediately  invited  to  visit  him.  I  am  now  the 
most  intimate  ami  de  la  maison.  If  for  three  days  I  omit 
caUing,  the  servant  comes  with  the  Major's  compUments  to 
inquire  after  my  health ;  and  I  find  that  I  am  never  unwel- 
come. We  sometimes  read  Shakespeare,  but  oftener  reason 
about  Lucretius.  By  what  lucky  mistake  I  know  not,  but  the 
Major  looks  on  me  as  a  Philolog,  lays  scruples  and  difficulties 
before  me,  and  listens  to  me  with  an  attention  that  makes  me 
internally  blush.  He  is  chatty,  has  seen  much  of  life  and 
literary  men,  and  relates  his  anecdotes  with  pleasure.  Nor 
is  this  all.  A  few  years  since  he  married  a  very  pretty  and 
amiable  woman,  just  half  as  old  as  himself  She  is  lively  and 
naive  in  the  highest  degree,  so  that  they  often  seem  rather  in 
the  relation  of  parent  and  child  than  of  husband  and  wife. 
He  has  besides  a  forward  clever  boy  of  ten,  with  whom  I  can 
very  well  entertain  myself  Thus  it  needs  no  assurance  of 
mine  that  in  this  house  I  am  quite  happy ;  indeed  it  is  my 
prime  enjoyment  this  winter,  —  a  new  tie  to  Jena.  When 
persons  of  so  excellent  a  character  as  Major  Knebel  attach 
themselves  to  me,  I  am  always  led  to  inquire  into  the  cause, 
and  that  out  of  true  modesty,  for  it  seems  a  wonder  to  me. 
And  in  this  case  it  lies  more  in  the  virtues  of  Knebel  than  in 
me.  He  loves  the  society  of  those  to  whom  he  can  say  every- 
thing. And  my  betters  here  are  not  of  that  description,  — 
real  scholars  have  not  time,  and  have  too  much  pretension. 
I  am  a  man  of  leisure.  I  am  frank,  and  as  I  take  liberties 
myself,  so  others  can  take  liberties  with  me.  And  then  the 
main  point  is,  we  ride  one  hobby-horse.  I  know  no  source  of 
friendship  so  productive  as  this.  I  should  further  say  that 
Major  Knebel  is  in  other  respects  a  most  worthy  man,  — 
generous  and  sincere,  —  a  courtier  without  falsity,  —  a  soldier 
without  frivolity.  The  worst  fault  I  know  in  him  is  that  he 
admires  Buonaparte.  I  lately  dined  with  him  in  company 
with  the  venerable  Griesbach,  whom  you  know  as  a  theolo- 
gian ;  and  the  equally  venerable  Wieland. 

I  will  here  mention  an  interesting  anecdote  connected  with 

*  This  letter  is  given  a  little  out  of  order  as  to  time,  but  the  reference  in  it 
to  Knebel  could  come  in  nowhere  else  so  well  as  here. 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


129 


"  Eeynarcl  the  Fox,"  though  it  is  already  contained  in  my 
friend  Naylor's  translation  of  that  work.  One  day,  at  Knebel's 
house,  Herder  said  to  Goethe,  Do  you  know  that  we  have 
in  the  German  language  an  epic  poem  with  as  much  poetry  in 
it  as  the  '  Odyssey,'  and  more  philosophy  1 " 

When  "  Eeineke  Fuchs  "  was  named,  Goethe  said  he  had 
been  deterred  from  looking  into  it,  by  its  being  published  by 
Gottsched,  a  sort  of  evil  spirit'  who  presided  over  the  infant 
genius  of  German  literature  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Goethe, 
however,  took  the  book  away  with  him  on  a  visit  to  Carlsbad, 
where  he  frequently  pjissed  the  summer  ;  and  in  a  few  weeks 
he  wrote  to  Herder  that  his  version  of  "  E-eineke  "  in  hexame- 
ters was  in  the  press. 

To  soften  the  painful  effect  of  taking  leave  at  once  of  a 
number  of  high-spirited  and  generous  young  men,  I  had 
promised  to  pay  a  visit  to  Wurzburg.  On  two  points,  more- 
over, my  curiosity  was  not  a  little  excited  :  first,  as  to  how 
the  Deism  of  Paulus  would  *  amalgamate  with  the  Romanism 
of  the  Bavarian  aborigines ;  and  secondly,  whether  the  pecu- 
liar character  of  a  Jenaer-Bursche  was  fixed  to  the  soil,  or 
might  be  transplanted  by  so  numerous  a  colony  to  the  Maxi- 
milian school. 

At  the  request  of  my  new  friend  Knebel,  I  postponed  my 
journey  from  the  8th  to  the  10th  of  September,  in  order  to 
accompany  his  friend,  Herr  von  Holzschuher.  He  was  a 
patrician  of  the  imperial  city  of  Nuremberg,  and  I  found  him 
a  most  amiable  and  obliging  man.  His  station  and  exterior 
figure  did  not  seem  promising  for  a  long  expedition  on  foot ; 
but,  notwithstanding  his  shrivelled,  swarthy  face,  slender 
limbs,  and  shuffling  gait,  he  had  an  inborn  nobility  of  legs 
that  secured  my  esteem,  and  enabled  him  to  accomplish  from 
twelve  to  fourteen  leagues  a  day  during  the  short  time  we 
were  together. 

My  reception  at  Wiirzburg  was  a  very  cordial  one,  and  I 
found  myself  an  object  of  interest  to  many  former  Jena 
students,  who  crowded  round  me  to  hear  tidings  of  a  place 
they  loved  more  than  their  pride  would  allow  them  to  con- 
fess. When  I  repaired  to  my  inn,  my  companions,  bent  on 
fun,  urged  me  to  be  the  chief  actor  in  playing  off  a  trick  on  a 
a  foolish  landlord.  Indeed,  without  preparing  me  for  what 
they  were  going  to  do,  they  introduced  me  to  him  at  once  as 
the  illustrious  philosopher  Fichte.  The  man  was  so  egregious 
a  simpleton,  that  the  task  on  my  part  was  an  easy  one.  My 


130    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

companions  gravely  put  to  me  questions  of  casuistry,  which  I 
answered  sometimes  with  Delphic  mysticism,  i.  e.  sheer  non- 
sense, at  others  with  pompous  triteness,  —  a  still  more  suc- 
cessful method,  perhaps,  of  befooling  a  fool.  Our  host  was 
delighted  to  have  his  house  honored  by  the  presence  of  so 
great  a  man,  and  soon  brought  into  the  room  a  witness  and 
sharer  of  his  felicity,  a  young  Catholic  priest  on  his  w^ay  to 
the  Arch-chancellor,  the  Elector  Dalberg.  After  my  friends 
had  left  me,  and  when  I  was  quite  alone,  this  young  priest 
came  to  me  for  the  second  time,  and  begged  to  have  the  honor 
of  a  few  words  in  private  with  the  great  man.  I  thought  I 
might  innocently  indemnify  myself  for  my  trouble  by  learning 
some  of  his  sentiments.  "  Pray,''  said  I,  "now  that  the  young 
people  are  away,  let  us  talk  openly.  Men  of  our  character 
understand  each  other.  How  is  it  that  a  person  of  your 
philosophic  turn  of  mind  can  submit  to  the  slavery  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  system  ]  How  do  you  dare  to  think  philos- 
ophy % "  He  assumed  a  look  that  Hogarth  might  have  bor- 
rowed, and  said  :  "To  tell  you  the  truth,  Herr  Professor,  there 
is  not  one  of  us  who  does  not  feel  the  yoke,  and  we  envy  you 
Protestants ;  but  we  are  poor,  and  submit  for  the  sake  of  a 
maintenance.  But  I  assure  you  we  are  more  enlightened 
than  you  are  aware  And  then  he  said  with  a  smile  of 

conceit :  "  Perhaps,  after  all,  we  do  not  believe  so  much  even 
as  you.  In  secret  we  are  very  enlightened."  The  style  in 
which  he  went  on  prevented  me  from  feeling  any  scruple  at 
the  joke  to  which  I  was  a  party.  I  have  no  doubt  he  was 
saying  what  he  supposed  would  recommend  him  to  my  favor- 
able opinion.  I  inquired  about  the  disputes  then  going  on 
between  the  King  and  the  Bishop  (of  Wurzburg),  and  found 
from  his  account,  which  now  I  could  believe  to  be  sincere, 
that  he  and  his  brethren  were  anxious  to  steer  between  the 
two  powers ;  for  to  the  one  they  owed  their  subsistence,  and 
to  the  other  their  clerical  character.  The  next  morning,  Pro- 
fessor Fichte  paid  his  bill,  and  took  up  his  abode  with  one  of 
his  friends. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  I  beheld  a  strange  sight,  —  a  man 
beheaded  for  murder.  He  was  of  the  lowest  description  of 
character,  sunk  in  brutal  stupidity  and  despair.  The  specta- 
tor could  not  but  feel  ashamed  of  such  a  degradation  of 
human  nature.  The  place  of  execution  in  Germany  is  usually 
a  circulai'  elevation,  spacious  enough  to  hold  a  chair  and  three 
or  four  persons,  i.  e.  some  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  diameter. 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


131 


In  the  present  instance  the  criminal,  having  rapidly  performed 
certain  religious  rites  below,  which  I  did  not  see,  was  blind- 
folded, and,  with  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  led  by  two  men  to 
the  raised  ground,  and  there  placed  in  a  chair.  The  execu- 
tioner then  stepped  from  behind,  holding  a  broad  sword  under 
his  cloak,  and  in  an  instant,  with  a  back-handed  blow,  severed 
the  head  from  the  body.  The  headless  trunk  remained  in  the 
chair  unmoved,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  A  Capuchin 
monk  then  came  forward,  and,  lifting  up  a  huge  crucifix,  ex- 
claimed, "  See,  my  friends,  that  thing  which  was  a  man  sits 
there,  and  all  because  he  neglected  going  to  confession."  A 
Protestant  in  like  circumstances  would  have  ascribed  the 
catastrophe  to  the  violation  of  the  Sabbath.  The  address 
which  followed  was  delivered  with  eloquence,  and,  though  dis- 
gusting to  me,  was,  I  felt,  well  adapted  to  impress  the  sort  of 
audience  collected  to  hear  it. 

I  spent  two  days  visiting  various  acquaintances,  and  both 
days  I  had  great  pleasure  in  dining  with  Professor  Paulus,  an 
agreeable  companion,  very  acute  as  w^ell  as  clear-headed. 
Whatever  opinion  I  may  entertain  of  his  Christianity,  which 
is  not  so  favorable  now  as  it  was  then,  I  see  no  reason  to 
withhold  the  acknowledgment  of  his  perfect  sincerity  and 
integrity.  He  claimed  the  character  of  a  Christian  Pro- 
fessor, and  this  during  his  long  academical  life  was  not  denied 
him  by  any  official  colleague,  though  refused  to  him  by  con- 
troversial adversaries.  I  learned  from  him  that  Schelling  had 
already  lost  the  favor  of  the  government,  and  that  a  struggle 
of  parties  was  going  on  which  threatened  (and  soon  produced 
its  effect  on)  the  infant  University.* 

The  hope  of  being  able  to  render  service  to  a  friend  caused 
me  to  extend  my  tour  to  Heidelberg  and  Carlsruhe.  Of  the 
former  I  need  not  speak  ;  the  latter  did  not  please  me.  The 
town  is  built  in  the  shape  of  a  fan,  the  palace  forming  the 
handle,  and  the  streets  radiating  from  it.  Of  the  famous 
Bergstrasse  I  will  only  say,  that  I  never  felt  more  strongly 
the  effect  of  scenery  in  giving  strength  and  resolution.    It  is 

*  It  should  be  not  infant^  but  rejuvenescent.  The  University  of  Wurzbnrg 
was  originally  established  in  1403,  but,  having  ceased  to  exist,  was  re-estab- 
lished in  1582;  and  an  attempt  was  made  at  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century  to  widen  its  influence  by  the  appointment  of  several  very  eminent 
professors ;  and  it  seems  that  a  iProtestant  element  was  introduced  in  the 
theological  staff  of  professors.  At  the  present  time  Wiirzburg  is  a  Roman 
Catholic  university.  The  Protestant  university  of  Bavaria  is  that  of  Erlan- 
gen,  at  which  a  large  proportion  of  the  students  are  theological. 


132    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 


said  that  a  property  of  beauty  is  to  enervate  ;  but  this  was 
not  my  experience  in  the  present  journey.  The  road  was 
lined  on  both  sides  with  fruit-trees  of  every  description,  es- 
pecially walnuts,  apples,  and  chestnuts.  The  principal  har- 
vest was  over,  but  every  variety  of  produce  was  left,  includ- 
ing, besides  more  familiar  objects,  flax,  tobacco,  and  Indian 
corn.  I  noticed  one  peach-tree  standing  by  itself.  The  ap- 
ples were  not  knocked  down,  but  carefully  gathered  one 
by  one  by  means  of  an  instrument  combining  a  rake  and  a 
basket. 

While  I  was  on  this  little  tour  Buonaparte  paid  a  visit  to 
Mayence,  of  which  all  the  papers  were  full.  I  was  amused  at 
the  prevaihng  timidity  of  the  people  in  expressing  their  opin- 
ions. I  never  met  with  an  individual  who  had  a  word  to  say 
in  his  favor,  but  no  one  ventured  to  speak  against  him.  I 
alone  talked  freely,  and  I  could  see  that  people  envied  me  my 
power  of  saying  what  I  liked.  One  evening,  at  the  table- 
d'hote,  I  was  rattling  away  as  usual,  when  a  well-looking  man 
who  sat  next  me  asked  where  I  was  going  ]  I  said,  "  On 
foot  to  Frankfort."  He  took  me  by  the  hand,  and  in  the  tone 
of  one  about  to  ask  a  serious  favor,  begged  me  to  take  a  seat 
between  him  and  his  wife  in  their  carriage.  "  It  will  do  my 
heart  good,"  he  said,  "  to  talk  with  an  Englishman  about  that 
vile  people  and  their  vile  Emperor,  who  have  thrust  my  nation 
into  such  misery.  I  am  from  Berne  ;  my  name  is  Von  Hal- 
ler."  —  "  Probably  of  the  family  of  the  great  physiologist  ? "  I 
said.  ^'The  same."  The  request  was  seconded  by  his  very- 
nice  little  wife,  who  had  hardly  ever  before  been  out  of  her 
native  place.  I  enjoyed  my  drive  with  my  patriotic  com- 
panions, and  the  first  day  after  our  arrival  at  Frankfort  I  de- 
voted to  them.  I  then  spent  four  days  in  calling  on  my 
several  acquaintance.  But  my  visit  was  tantalizing  rather 
than  satisfying,  and  led  to  a  reflection  which  on  other  occa- 
sions has  forced  itself  on  me,  and  which  I  think  worth  writing 
here.  It  is  this,  the  sentiments  we  entertain  for  old  friends 
are  sometimes  endangered  by  a  short  visit  after  a  few  years' 
absence.  The  recollection  of  the  former  intercourse  with  old 
friends  has  about  it  a  charm,  which  is  broken  when  they  are 
seen  for  only  a  short  time.  If  there  be  a  second  stay  with 
them  sufficiently  lengthened  to  form  a  new  image,  then  a 
double  and  strengthened  attachment  arises.  Otherwise  an 
illusion  is  destroyed,  and  no  substitute  is  produced. 

In  my  notes  of  the  Brentano  family,  I  find  that  Bettind 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


133 


pleased  me  this  time  better  than  before,  Now  I  may  venture  to 
mention  Bettina,  who  has  since  gained  a  European  notoriety 
at  least.  When  I  first  came  to  Frankfort  she  was  a  short, 
stout,  romping  girl,  the  youngest  and  least  agreeable  of 
Madame  de  la  Roche's  grandchildren.  She  was  always  con- 
sidered a  wayward,  unmanageable  creature.  I  recollect  seeing 
her  climb  apple-trees,  and  she  was  a  great  rattling  talker.  I 
recollect  also  hearing  her  speak  in  terms  of  extravagant  ad- 
miration of  the  Mignon  of  Goethe's  "  Wilhelm  Meister." 
Clasping  her  hands  over  her  bosom,  she  said,  I  always  lie 
thus  Avhen  in  bed,  in  imitation  of  Mignon."  I  had  heard 
nothing  of  her  for  many  years,  when  there  appeared  "  Goethes 
Briefwechsel  mit  einem  Kinde "  (Correspondence  of  Goethe 
with  a  Child).  In  this  book  Bettina  wishes  to  have  it  thought 
that  she  was  so  much  an  object  of  interest  to  Goethe,  that  he 
framed  sonnets  out  of  her  letters.  My  friend  Fritz  Schlosser 
says  he  is  most  certain  that  these  letters  were  not  written  at 
the  date  they  bear,  but  are  mere  inventions  founded  on  the 
sonnets.  My  acquaintance  at  Frankfort  are  of  the  same  opin- 
ion, and  it  is  not  opposed  by  the  family. 

On  the  way  back  to  Jena  I  passed  through  Fulda,  the  resi- 
dence of  a  prince  bishop,  and  saw  a  play  entitled  "  Uble 
Laune,"  by  Kotzebue.  I  thought  it  did  not  justify  the  epi- 
gram made  upon  it  by  A.  W.  Schlegel :  — 

"  Justly  and  wisely  this  piece  by  the  author 's  entitled  '  111  Humor  ; 
Though  in  the  play 't  is  not  found,  still  by  the  play 't  is  engendered." 

I  visited  one  Salzmann,  a  famous  practical  pedagogue,  who 
has  established  a  large  and  distinguished  seminary  at  Schnep- 
fenthal.*  This  Salzmann  has  made  himself  generally  known 
by  the  very  elaborate  and  solicitous  attention  he  pays  to  the 
gymnastical  part  of  education,  by  the  anti-disciplinarian  prin- 
ciples, and  by  the  universal  tendency  and  direction  of  the 
studies.  I  saw  that  the  boys  were  healthy,  happy,  and  coura- 
geous. And  Salzmann  seemed  to  have  succeeded  in  the  diffi- 
cult task  (which  the  French  have  found  impracticable)  of 
giving  liberty  and  repressing  licentiousness.  The  boys  are  on 
no  occasions  struck,  —  this  is  a  fundamental  law.  Another  is 
to  give  them  freedom  in  everything  not  obviously  dangerous. 
They  botanize  and  study  natural  history,  and  take  long  jour- 
neys with  their  preceptors  on  foot  over  the  mountains.  They 
climb  trees,  jump  over  hedges,  swim,  skate,  &c.,  &c.,  and,  as  far 

*  A  village  near  Waltershausen,  in  the  Duchy  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 


134    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  8. 

as  general  culture  of  the  active  powers  is  concerned,  there  is 
much  to  be  applauded,  but  I  fear  solid  learning  is  neglected, 
and  the  institution  is  not  without  affectation,  and  even  what 
looks  like  quackery.  A  newspaper  is  printed  here  containing 
a  history  of  all  remarkable  occurrences,  prizes  given,  incidents 
in  the  house,  exercises  performed,  visits  of  strangers,  &c.  With 
edifying  improvements,  Salzmann  translated  Mary  Wollstone- 
•  craft's  "  Rights  of  Women,"  and  he  was  in  correspondence  with 
her.  One  of  her  children's  books  is  a  translation  of  a  work  by 
him. 

After  my  return,  Knebel  was  anxious  to  take  me  to  Weimar 
to  see  his  sister,  governess  to  the  Hereditary  Princess,  and  also 
Fraiilein  von  Geckhausen,  the  Hofdame  to  the  Duchess  Dowa- 
ger. We  went  on  the  27th  of  October.  I  had  the  honor  of 
sipping  chocolate  in  the  presence  of  the  young  Princess.  I  also 
visited  Fran  von  Wollzogen,  Schiller's  wife's  sister,  afterwards 
his  biographer,  and  I  witnessed  the  performance  of  "  Turan- 
dot."  *  This  fairy  tale,  by  Schiller,  an  imitation  of  Gozzi,  is 
not  considered  one  of  his  great  works  ;  but  it  proved  versatility 
of  talent,  and  afforded  an  opportunity  of  trying  an  experiment. 
It  was  played  with  masks,  and  certainly  gave  pleasure  as  soon 
as  the  spectators  were  reconciled  to  the  novelty.  At  each  per- 
formance, for  some  time,  the  interest  was  enhanced  by  the  in- 
troduction of  fresh  riddles,  by  which  the  Chinese  Princess  tried 
the  skill  of  her  unwelcome  lover. 

On  the  24th  of  November,  an  occurrence  took  place  which 
at  one  time  threatened  me  with  serious  consequences,  but 
which  eventually  was  of  service  to  me  by  occasioning  my 
introduction  to  the  Duchess.    Of  all  the  Jena  professors,  the 

most  unpopular  was  E  .    He  had  the  ear  of  the  Grand 

Duke,  but  was  disliked  both  by  his  colleagues  and  the  stu- 
dents. He  lectured  this  session  on  Homer  and  the  Roman 
satirists.  One  of  the  students  had  put  into  my  hands  a  com- 
mentary on  Horace,  from  which  we  saw  that  the  Professor  read 

page  after  page.    As  soon  as  the  lecture  was  over,  and  E  

had  left  the  room,  I  called  out  to  the  students,  Gentlemen,  I 
wall  read  you  the  lecture  over  again,"  and  began  reading  ;  I  was 

a  little  too  soon,  E  was  within  hearing,  and  rushed  back  to 

the  room.  An  altercation  ensued,  and  I  was  cited  before  the 
Prorector.  It  was  reported  that  I  should  be  sent  away,  that  is, 
receive  the  consilium  obeundL    My  friend  Knebel  took  up  my 

*  Turandot,  Prinzessin  von  China.  Ein  tragikomisches  Mahrchen  nach 
Gozzi. 


1804.] 


GERMANY. 


135 


cause  zealously.  The  Prorector  interrogated  me,  and  I  related 
to  him  all  that  I  could.  In  the  Senate,  my  chief  friend  was  the 
great  jurist  Thibaut,  who,  next  to  Savigny,  was  one  of  the  great 
law  authorities  of  the  day  in  Germany.     I  soon  learned  that 

E  had  succeeded  in  misrepresenting  the  affair ;  and  from 

Thibaut  I  received  the  advice  to  draw  up  a  formal  statement, 
and  present  it  to  the  Prorector,  with  the  request  that  he  would 
lay  it  before  the  Senate.  This  I  did  ;  and  I  added  a  letter  from 
a  student  corroborating  every  important  fact,  especially  the  fact 
that  E  had  merely  read  from  Haverkamp.  The  Senate  re- 
quested the  Professor  to  send  in  his  answer.  Thibet  said  that 
for  his  own  part  he  would  never  consent  to  my  receiving  the 
consilium,  —  for  either  I  ought  to  be  expelled  with  infamy  as  a 
liar,  or  I  had  told  the  truth,  and  then  the  less  said  about  the 

matter  the  better.    It  was  discovered  that  E  was  gone  to 

Weimar,  with  the  object  it  was  believed  of  obtaining  a  Ducal 
order  for  my  removal ;  therefore  my  friends  resolved  to  intro- 
duce me  to  the  Grand  Duchess. 

The  Prorector  affected  to  be  my  friend,  and  said  the  matter 
should  be  made  up  by  the  merely  nominal  punishment  of  a 
rustication  for  two  days.  I  said  I  should  submit  to  no  pun- 
ishment. If  there  were  a  sentence  against  me,  I  should  appeal 
to  the  Duke  ;  and  if  that  did  not  avail,  I  should  leave  the 
University,  and  send  a  printed  copy  of  my  statement  to  all 
the  other  Universities.  In  my  paper,  I  stated  that  if  I  were 
accused  of  making  a  false  charge  of  plagiarism,  I  pledged  my- 
self to  prove  the  charge.  The  Professor  never  answered  my 
memorial ;  and  so  the  matter  ended. 

In  the  mean  while,  however,  it  took  me  to  Weimar.  The 
Dowager  Duchess  Amelia,  a  niece  of  Frederick,  King  of 
Prussia,  was  a  very  superior  woman  ;  and  German  literature 
is  under  infinite  obligations  to  her.  She  was  the  especial  pa- 
troness of  Wieland  and  Herder,  but  was  honored  by  Goethe, 
Schiller,  and  indeed  by  every  one.  The  first  day  I  dined  with 
her  I  felt  as  much  at  my  ease  as  the  last.  Wieland  was  always 
at  her  table.  On  the  present  occasion  she  desired  me  to  be  at 
the  theatre  in  Schiller's  box.  I  called  on  him,  and  went  with 
his  party.    The  Duchess  came  and  stood  next  me,  and  chatted 

with  me.    E  was  in  the  pit,  and  it  was  supposed  the  sight 

of  me  must  have  taken  away  his  last  hope  of  success.  At  all 
events,  all  apprehension  on  my  account  was  removed  early  in 
the  new  year  by  my  public  appearance  under  the  Duchess 
Dowager's  protection. 


136    KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  9. 


H.  C.  R.  TO  HIS  Brother. 

March  2, 1805. 

The  Duchess  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  estimable  of  the 
German  princesses,  and  is  not  unworthy  of  being  a  niece  of 
Frederick  II.  At  the  theatre  I  saw  the  wonder  of  the  North, 
and  the  object  of  every  one's  idolatry  here,  —  the  hereditary 
Princess  of  Saxe- Weimar.  As  my  residence  here  has  given 
you  an  interest  in  everything  that  concerns  our  little  court,  I 
take  for  granted  that  you  are  not  ignorant  that  a  few  months 
since  our  Hereditary  Prince  brought  home  his-  bride,  —  the 
sister  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  and  a  daughter  of  Paul.  All 
tongues  are  lavish  of  her  praise,  and  indeed  she  seems  to  be 
really  an  extraordinary  person.  She  is  young,  and  possesses  a 
most  cultivated  mind  and  accomplished  address.  I  stood  by 
her  some  time,  and  smiled  at  myself  at  remarking  the  effect 
she  had  on  me, —  since,  excellent  as  I  doubt  not  she  is,  I  am 
still  sensible  that  the  strange  sensation  I  felt  at  hearing  her 
say  common  things  was  principally  occasioned  by  the  magic  of 
title  and  name. 

V   ,  

CHAPTER  IX. 

GERMANY.  1805. 

IN  1805  Jena  was  to  sustain  a  fresh  loss  in  the  departure 
of  Voss,  to  whom  a  pension  of  1,000  dollars  a  year  was 
offered  on  the  simple  condition  of  his  living  at  Heidelberg. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  came  to  live  at  Weimar  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hare  Naylor,  whom  I  found  a  very  valuable  addition  to 
my  circle  of  acquaintance.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Whig 
Bishop  Hare,  and  she  the  daughter  of  Bishop  Shipley,  brother 
of  the  patriotic  Dean  of  St.  Asaph,  whom  Erskine  defended  in 
the  prosecution  for  publishing  Sir  W.  Jones's  famous  Dialogue. 
The  Hare  Naylors  had  young  children,  of  whom,  at  the  time  I 
am  writing,  the  Archdeacon  Julius  is  the  only  survivor.  Miss 
Flaxman  lived  with  them  as  governess.* 

I  have  now  to  mention  an  event  w^hich  cast  its  shadow  far 

*  Vide  Memoir  of  Julius  Hare  prefixed  to  the  last  edition  of  "  Guesses  at 
Truth."  The  property  of  Hurstmonceux  came  into  the  Naylor  family  in  1701, 
and  was  sold  by  Francis  Hare  Naylor  in  1807.  The  name  Nay  lor  therefore  was 
doubtless  assumed  by  Francis  Hare  in  order  to  inherit  this  property. 


1805.] 


GERMANY. 


137 


and  wide,  but  especially  over  the  neighborhood  of  Weimar,  — 
the  death  of  Schiller. 

It  has  frequently  been  to  me  a  subject  of  regret  that  during 
my  residence  at  Jena  I  did  not  take  more  pains  to  be  received 
into  the  society  of  the  great  poets  of  Weimar.  I  saw  Schiller 
occasionally,  as  well  as  the  others  ;  but  I  did  not  push  myself 
into  their  notice.  This  indeed  I  cannot  regret.  The  only 
conversation  I  recollect  having  had  with  Schiller  arose  from 
my  asking  whether  he  did  not  know  English,  as  I  saw  German 
translations  of  Shakespeare  among  his  books.  He  said  :  -'I 
have  read  Shakespeare  in  English,  but  on  principle  not  much. 
My  business  in  life  is  to  write  German,  and  I  am  convinced 
that  a  person  cannot  read  much  in  foreign  languages  without 
losing  that  delicate  tact  in  the  perception  of  the  power  of 
words  which  is  essential  to  good  writing.''  I  also  asked  him 
whether  he  was  acquainted  with  Lillo.  He  said  he  began  a 
play  founded  on  the  story  of  "  George  Barnwell."  He  thought 
highly  of  Lillo'-s  dramatic  talent.  I  told  him  the  story  of 
^'  Fatal  Curiosity,"  which  he  thought  a  good  subject.  By  the 
by,  Werner  after  this  wrote  a  mystical  play  with  the  same 
plot,  and  called  it  "  The  24th  of  February,"  on  which  day, 
for  several  generations,  horrible  events  take  place  in  a  doomed 
family. 

During  all  the  time  I  was  at  Jena,  Schiller  was  in  poor 
health,  though  at  this  time  his  greatest  works  were  produced. 
He  lived  in  a  very  retired  way ;  and  his  habit  was  to  write  at 
midnight,  taking  a  great  deal  of  coffee  as  a  stimulant.  The 
report  of  his  being  in  a  dangerous  state  had  already  been 
spread  abroad.  Friday,  the  10th  of  May,  was  Fries's  last  day 
at  Jena,  and  as  usual  I  went  with  him  and  others  to  take 
after-dinner  coffee  at  Zwatzen.  I  left  the  party  early,  to  keep 
an  engagement  to  drink  tea  with  Knebel  at  Fahrenkriiger's. 
While  I  was  there  some  one  came  in  with  the  news,  —  "  Schil- 
ler ist  todt."  Knebel  sprang  up,  and  in  a  loud  voice  ex- 
claimed, whilst  he  struck  the  table  violently,  "  Der  Tod  ist  der 
einzige  dumme  Jung."  It  was  ridiculous  and  pathetic.  Dear 
Knebel's  passions  were  always  an  odd  combination  of  fury  and 
tenderness.  He  loved  Schiller,  and  gave  to  his  feelings  imme- 
diate and  unconsidered  expression.  He  had  no  other  word  for 
them  now  than  the  comic  student  word  of  offence,  the  prelude 
to  a  duel,  Death  is  the  only  fool."  I  had  engaged  to  go  to 
a  party  in  honor  of  Fries,  and  I  went.  We  stayed  up  late, 
student-songs  were  sung,  but  we  could  not  be  glad ;  for  there 


138     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  9. 


was  not  one  of  us  who  did  not  grieve  for  the  loss  of  Schiller, 
though  perhaps  no  one  was  intimate  with  him. 

I  went  next  day  to  Weimar,  where  I  remained  till  the  14th. 
I  spent  the  Saturday  in  various  company,  for  I  had  now  many 
acquaintances.  Schiller's  death  and  character  were  the  sole 
subjects  of  conversation.  At  a  party  at  Fraulein  Geckhau- 
sen's  I  was  involved  in  a  foolish  squabble.  I  said  unguardedly, 
"  The  glory  of  Weimar  is  rapidly  passing  away."  One  of  the 
Kammerherrn  (gentlemen  of  the  chamber)  was  offended. 
*'A11  the  poets  might  die,"  he  said  angrily,  ^'but  the  court  of 
Weimar  would  still  remain."  The  ladies  took  my  part ;  they 
said,  truly,  that  I  was  of  course  referring  to  no  court  glory. 
I  was  alluding  to  that  in  which  Weimar  threw  into  the  shade 
Berlin,  St.  Petersburg,  and  Vienna. 

The  interment  of  Schiller  took  place  by  night.  Voss  came 
from  Jena  to  be  one  of  the  bearers.  It  rained  ;  I  was  de- 
pressed, and  as  there  was  to  be  no  address  or  ceremony,  I  did 
not  attend.    This  I  have  since  regretted. 

Next  day  I  dined  quietly  with  Mrs.  Hare.  No  one  was 
with  her  but  Miss  Flaxman.  I  found  Mrs.  Hare's  conversation 
very  interesting.  She  had  known  Priestley ;  and  lent  me  the 
life  of  her  brother-in-law,  Sir  W.  Jones,  of  her  connection  with 
whom  she  was  proud. 

On  the  13th  I  dined  with  the  Duchess  Dowager.  Wieland 
was  present,  and  spoke  of  Schiller's  poetical  character,  remark- 
ing, with  I  believe  perfect  truth,  that  Schiller's  excellence  lay 
more  in  lyrical  poetry  than  in  dramatic.  In  reference  to  him- 
self, Wieland  said  he  was  a  precocious  child.  At  four  years 
of  age  he  began  Latin  ^  at  eight  understood  Cornelius  Nepos 
as  well  as  if  he  had  written  it ;  and  at  fourteen  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  Horace. 

One  little  incident  I  must  not  forget.  The  Grand  Duchess 
showed  me  a  copy  of  Goethe's  quarto  volume,  "  Winckelmann 
und  sein  Jahrhundert,"  which  she  had  just  received  from  him. 
On  taking  it  into  my  hand,  there  fell  from  it  a  slip  of  paper, 
on  which  was  written  a  distich.  I  never  felt  so  strong  a  temp- 
tation to  commit  a  theft.  But  I  brought  away  a  copy  of  the 
lines,  without  stealing  :  — 

*'  Freundlich  empfiino^e  das  Wort  laut  ausgesprochner  Verehrung, 
Das  die  Parze  mir  fast  schnitt  von  den  Lippen  hinweg." 

["  Kindly  receive  the  expression  of  loudly  avowed  veneration, 
Though  from  before  my  lips  Fate  nearly  snatched  it  away."] 

That  Goethe's  life  was  in  danger  when  Schiller  died  is  well 


1805.] 


GERMANY. 


139 


known ;  and  this  distich  shows  that  about  this  time  his 
"  Winckelmann  "  was  written. 

On  the  8th  of  June  I  dined  with  the  Duchess  for  the  fourth 
time,  and  found  Wieland  very  communicative.  He  spoke  of 
French  Hterature,  and  I  asked  him  to  recommend  some  French 
novels.  He  said,  of  Count  Hamilton  opera  omnia.  He  praised 
even  the  tales  of  Crebillon,  —  "  Le  Sopha,"  Ah,  quelle  Conte," 
and  "  Memoires  d'un  Homme  de  Qualite,"  and  some  works  by 
Abbe  Prevost.  He  spoke  also  of  English  literature,  to  which 
he  confessed  great  obligations.  I  had  mentioned  that  the  first 
book  I  recollected  having  read  was  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress." 
"  That  delights  me,"  he  said,  "  for  in  that  book  I  learned  to 
read  English.  English  literature  had  a  great  influence  on  me  ; 
and  your  Puritan  writings  particularly.  The  first  book  I  at- 
tempted to  write  was  an  imitation  of  Mrs.  Rowe's  *  Letters 
from  the  Dead  to  the  Living.'  "  This  was  one  of  the  favorite 
books  of  my  own  dear  mother.  Wieland  went  on  to  say  : 
The  next  work  I  read  was  a  large  didactic  poem  on  Grace.  I 
said  to  myself,  in  future  no  one  will  speak  of  Lucretius.  After 
this  I  became  acquainted  with  the  lighter  English  poetry.  I 
made  my  '  Komische  Erzahlungen '  in  imitation  of  Prior.  I  was 
fond  of  Gay.''  Wieland  thought  English  literature  had  de- 
clined since  the  age  of  Queen  Anne. 

On  a  later  occasion  I  saw  still  more  of  Wieland.  It  was 
when  Knebel  took  me  to  TiefFurth,  the  country  residence  of 
the  Duchess.  I  rode  with  Wieland  tete-a-tete  to  Tieffurth,  from 
his  own  house ;  and  he  spoke  of  his  own  works  with  most  in- 
teresting frankness.  He  considered  his  best  work  to  be  "  Mu- 
sarion."  He  had  gone  over  it  with  Goethe  line  by  line.  He 
was  sensible  that  the  characteristic  of  his  prose  style  is  what 
the  Greeks  called  o-rcojivXia,  —  not  mere  chatter,  *^  Geschwatz," 
but  an  agreeable  diffuseness. 

At  dinner  I  told  him  of  the  new  publication  of  Gleim's 
Letters,  and  quoted  a  passage  written  by  Gleim  in  Switzerland 
when  Wieland,  a  mere  lad,  was  staying  at  the  house  of  Bod- 
mer  :  "  There  is  a  clever  young  man  here  now  named  Wieland, 
—  a  great  talker,  and  a  great  writer.  It  is  a  pity  that,  as 
one  can  see,  he  will  very  soon  have  exhausted  himself."  "  Ich 
erschopft ! "  I  exhausted")  Wieland  cried  out,  clasping  his 
hands.  "  Well,  well !  I  am  now  in  my  seventy-fourth  year 
(or  seventy-third),  and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  I  will  still  write 
more  than  he  ever  did,  and  it  shall  last  longer  too."  This  he 
said  of  the  poet  of  Frederick  the  Great,  whom  the  last  gen- 


140  EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  9. 
eration  used  to  regard  as  a  Horace,  and  still  more  as  a  Tjr- 

tcBUS. 

After  dinner  I  read  aloud,  among  other  things,  a  good  trans- 
lation by  Schmidt  of  '*Auld  E-obin  Gray,"  which  was  much 
admired.  Wieland  told  us  to-day  of  his  early  attachment  to 
Madame  de  la  Eoche.  He  said,  It  was  well  it  came  to  noth- 
ing, for  we  should  have  spoiled  each  other." 

Humboldt,  the  great  traveller,  on  his  return  from  America, 
was  presented  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon.  Now,  Humboldt 
himself  Is  a  sort  of  Buonaparte  among  travellers,  and  expected 
to  be  distinguished.  "  Yous  aimez  la  botanique,"  said  the  Em- 
peror to  him,  et  ma  femme  aussi " ;  and  passed  on.  Is  it 
not  admirable  There  are  many  occurrences  of  great  and 
little  moment  in  life  which  can  only  be  understood  from  their 
relation  to  the  character  of  the  actor.  Was  this  address  of 
Buonaparte  humor,  or  satire,  or  insolence,  or  impertinence] 
Did  he  deserve  a  kick  or  a  pat  1    Ask  his  lord  in  waiting. 

At  the  close  of  my  residence  in  Jena  I  became  rather  inti- 
mate with  a  w^oman  whose  history  is  very  remarkable,  especial- 
ly as  given  by  herself  in  detail.  This  was  Frau  von  Einsiedel. 
Compelled  to  marry  against  her  will,  she  found  her  husband 
so  unfit  for  a  woman  to  live  with,  that  she  feigned  death,  and, 
making  her  escape,  caused  a  log  of  wood  to  be  buried  in  her 
stead.  When  the  truth  was  discovered,  a  legal  divorce  took 
place,  and  she  became  the  wife  of  Herr  von  Einsiedel,  who  had 
been  the  companion  of  her  flight.  She  gave  me  an  account  of 
her  strange  adventures,  that  I  might  not  despise  her  in  the 
distant  country  to  which  I  was  about  to  return.  All  she  said 
wa-s  in  language  the  most  delicate,  and  was  indicative  of  the 
most  refined  sensibility.  She  was  held  in  high  esteem  by 
Knebel  and  Wieland,  and  retained  the  regard  of  the  Duchess 
Dowager.  I  saw  her  repeatedly  with  the  Duchess  when 
she  came  to  Jena,  and  took  up  her  residence  at  the  castle,  in 
order  to  attend  a  course  of  lectures  on  Craniology  by  Dr.  Gall. 

This  science  of  Craniology,  which  keeps  its  place  in  the 
world,  though  not  among  the  universally  received  sciences, 
was  then  quite  new.  One  or  two  pamphlets  had  appeared, 
but  the  gloss  of  novelty  was  still  upon  it.  Goethe  deemed  it 
worthy  of  investigation,  and,  when  a  satire  upon  it  was  put 
into  the  form  of  a  drama,  would  not  allow  it  to  be  acted.  The 
Duchess,  who  had  a  very  active  mind  and  a  universal  curiosity, 
took  a  warm  interest  in  the  lectures,  and  was  unremitting  in 
her  attendance  at  them. 


1805.] 


GERMANY. 


141 


Gall,  whom  the  Duchess  invited  me  to  meet  at  dinner,  was 
a  large  man  with  a  florid  countenance,  —  of  the  same  general 
complexion  as  Astley  Cooper  and  Chantrey.  He  had  not  been 
brought  up  in  cultivated  society  ;  and  so  utterly  wanting  in 
tact  was  he,  that  on  one  occasion,  having  enumerated  the  dif- 
ferent organs  on  a  marked  skull,  he  turned  to  the  Duchess 
and  regularly  catechized  her  as  if  she  had  been  an  ordinary 
student.  "  What 's  the  name  of  that  organ,  your  Highness  1 " 
She  gave  me  a  very  significant  look,  and  smiled  :  there  was  a 
titter  round  the  table,  and  the  Professor  looked  abashed.  Gall 
was  attended  by  Spurzheim,  as  his  famulus,  who  received  our 
fee  for  the  lectures. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  make  this  new  science  known 
in  England,  and  accordingly  I  purchased  of  Spurzheim,  for 
two  Friedrichs  d'or,  a  skull  marked  with  the  organs.  I 
bought  also  two  pamphlets,  one  by  Hufeland,  and  the  other  by 
Bischof,  explanatory  of  the  system.  And  soon  after  my  re- 
turn to  London  I  compiled  on  the  subject  a  small  volume, 
which  was  published  by  Longman.*  The  best  part  of  the 
book  was  a  happy  motto  from  Sir  Thomas  Brown,  for  which  I 
take  credit  :  "  The  finger  of  God  hath  left  an  inscription  upon 
all  his  works,  not  graphical  or  composed  of  letters,  but  of  their 
several  forms,  constitutions,  parts,  and  operations,  which,  apt- 
ly joined  together,  do  make  one  word  that  doth  express  their 
nature."  The  work  itself  excited  hardly  any  public  interest ; 
but  just  at  the  time  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  Rees's 
Cyclopaedia  was  coming  out,  and  the  whole  substance  of  the 
article  on  Craniology  was  copied  from  my  work,  the  source  be- 
ing suitably  acknowledged. 

My  student  life  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close,  —  or  per- 
haps I  should  say  rather  my  life  at  Jena,  —  for  I  must  confess 
I  owe  more  to  the  society  I  enjoyed  there  than  to  what  I 
learned  in  the  lecture-rooms  of  the  professors.  My  memoran- 
da of  my  reading  in  Greek  and  Latin  are  to  me  a  source  of 
mingled  shame  and  consolation,  —  consolation  that  I  did  not 
wholly  neglect  the  great  authors  of  antiquity,  and  shame  that 
so  little  of  what  I  read  remains.  To  German  literature  and 
philosophy  I  continued  also  to  devote  a  part  of  my  time.  But 
latterly  I  attended  fewer  lectures,  and  read  more  with  friends 
and  private  tutors. 

*  Some  Account  of  Dr.  Gall's  New  Theory  of  Physiognomy,  founded  on 
the  An;itoray  and  Physiology  of  the  Brain,  and  the  Form  of  the  Skull.  With 
the  Critical  Strictures  of  0.  W.  Hufeland,  M.  D.  London:  Longman  &  Co. 
1807. 


142     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.    [Chap.  9. 


On  the  8th  of  August,  1805,  I  went  to  Weimar  to  take 
leave.  The  Duchess  was  exceedingly  kind,  as  also  was  Wie- 
land.  When  I  called  on  him  he  was  writing,  and  I  apologized 
for  the  interruption.  "  I  am  only  copying,"  he  said.  On  my 
expressing  some  surprise  that  he  had  not  an  amanuensis,  he 
^aid  :  I  believe  I  have  spent  one  sixth  part  of  my  life  in  copy- 
ing, and  I  have  no  doubt  it  has  had  a  salutary  effect  on  me. 
Having  devoted  myself  to  the  composition  of  works  of  imagi- 
nation, copying  has  had  a  sedative  and  soothing  influence,  and 
tended  to  keep  my  mind  in  a  healthy  state."  He  was  then 
copying  one  of  the  comedies  of  Aristophanes.  He  said  he 
meant  to  translate  all  but  two,  which  he  deemed  untranslata- 
ble.   One  was  "  Peace  " ;  the  title  of  the  other  I  forget. 

On  the  15th  of  August  I  left  Jena.  It  was  my  good  fortune 
to  come  to  Jena  while  the  ancient  spirit  was  still  alive  and  ac- 
tive, and  I  saw  the  last  not  altogether  insignificant  remains  of 
a  knot  of  public  teachers  who  have  seldom  been  surpassed  in 
any  university.  I  have  seen,  too,  a  galaxy  of  literary  talent 
and  genius,  which  future  ages  will  honor  as  the  poetical  orna- 
ment of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  place  above  the  more 
showy  but  less  sterling  beaux-esprits  of  France  who  flourished 
thirty  or  forty  years  before.  Of  my  leave-taking  at  Jena  I 
will  only  say  that  I  parted  with  no  one  with  so  much  regret 
as  Knebel.  My  friend  Voigt  accompanied  me  three  leagues. 
On  the  21st  I  reached  Brunswick,  and  on  the  24th  took  my 
place  in  the  Post-wagen  to  Hamburg.  In  this  journey  I  had 
a  narrow  escape  of  being  taken  prisoner.  I  travelled  with  a 
passport,  which  I  had  procured  as  a  Saxon.  I  was  not  with- 
out anxiety,  for  I  had  to  pass  through  the  French  army,  which 
was  in  possession  of  the  north  of  Germany.  Through  the  in- 
terposition of  the  King  of  Prussia,  Hamburg  had  been  declared 
neutral  territory  ;  but  I  at  that  time  spoke  German  fluently, 
and  did  not  fear  detection  by  Frenchmen.  A  more  wearisome 
journey  than  the  one  I  had  now  to  make  cannot  be  found, 
certainly  in  Germany.  One  of  the  passengers  was  a  French- 
man, who  rendered  himself  disagreeable  to  *  all  the  rest.  I 
afterwards  found  that  he  was  even  then  in  the  French  service. 
On  the  way  he  and  I  had  two  or  three  rather  angry  discussions 
in  German.  But  I  was  not  fully  aware  till  afterwards  of 
the  peril  I  encountered  in  his  company.  I  read  occasionally, 
and  as  often  as  I  coTild  walked  forward,  wishing  there  had  been 
hills  to  give  me  more  opportunity  of  walking.  On  one  occa- 
sion I  had  gone  on  a  considerable  distance,  when  I  came  to  a 


1805.] 


GERMANY. 


143 


turnpike,  the  keeper  of  which  had  a  countenance  which  struck 
me  as  remarkably  Hke  that  of  Erskine.    Two  soldiers  were 
riding  at  a  distance.    I  said  to  the  man,  "  Who  are  they  1 " 
Gens-d'armes." 

"  What  are  they  about  " 

"  Looking  after  suspicious  characters." 
Do  you  mean  people  who  have  no  passes  1 " 

"  Ay,  and  those  who  have  passes,  —  Englishmen  who  try  to 
pass  for  Germans." 

He  laughed,  and  so  did  I.  It  was  evident  he  had  detected 
me,  but  I  was  in  no  danger  from  him.  He  said  also  :  "  Perhaps 
they  are  on  the  lookout  for  some  one.  They  have  their  spies 
everywhere."  This  I  own  made  me  feel  a  little  uncomfortable, 
and  put  me  on  my  guard.  In  the  evening,  about  six,  the  second 
day,  we  passed  through  Liineburg,  which  was  full  of  French 
soldiers.  At  length,  about  1  a.  m.,  we  arrived  at  the  Elbe, 
where  the  military  were  stationed  whose  duty  it  was  to  ex- 
amine our  passports.  But  it  was  too  much  trouble  to  rise 
from  bed,  and  we  were  at  once  ferried  over  the  river  to  the 
Hamburg  side,  where  we  were  under  Prussian  protection.  As 
soon  as  we  were  again  in  the  carriage,  and  in  motion,  I  felt  un- 
able to  repress  my  feeling  of  triumph,  and  snapping  my  finger 
at  the  Frenchman,  said,  Nun,  Herr,  ich  bin  ein  Englander  " 
(^'Now,  sir,  I  am  an  Englishman").  He  did  not  conceal  his 
mortification,  and  said,  "  You  ought  to  have  been  taken  pris- 
oner for  your  folly  in  running  such  a  risk,"  —  in  which  perhaps 
he  was  not  far  wrong.  Had  he  discovered  me  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  before  I  should  probably  have  been  packed  off  to  France, 
and  kept  prisoner  till  1813.  I  was  afterwards  told  by  sevei*al 
of  my  fellow-passengers  that  they  suspected  me,  and  were  ap- 
prehensive on  my  account. 

At  Hamburg  I  saw  Iffland  in  the  comedy  entitled  "Auss- 
teuer,"  —  one  of  the  most  perfect  pieces  of  acting  I  ever  saw. 
His  character  was  that  of  a  low-minded  Amtmann,  an  incarna- 
tion of  apathy.  I  still  recollect  his  look  and  voice.  They  were 
not  to  be  forgotten.  It  is  the  one  character  in  which  he  ap- 
peared most  perfect,  though  I  saw  him  in  others  of  greater  ce- 
lebrity. 

I  remained  at  Hamburg  but  a  short  time,  returning  to  Eng- 
land by  the  ordinary  way. 

It  was  a  critical  moment.  The  very  packet  which  took  me 
over  to  England  carried  the  news  of  the  fatal  battle  of  Auster- 
litz,  which  inflicted  a  deep  wound  on  the  already  crippled  power 


144    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  10. 

of  Austria.  This  victory  encouraged  Buonaparte  to  fresh  in- 
sults on  Prussia,  which  soon  led  to  a  Prussian  war.  And  as 
Prussia  had  looked  on  quietly,  if  not  complacently,  when  the 
battle  of  Austerlitz  was  fought,  so  Austria  beheld  with  a  kind 
of  resentful  composure  the  victory  gained  by  the  French  over 
the  Prussians  at  Jena. 

On  our  very  disagreeable  voyage  we  were  not  without  fear  of 
being  attacked  by  a  French  privateer ;  but,  on  the  17th  of  Sep- 
tember, we  arrived  safely  at  Yarmouth,  and  on  the  19th  I  pro- 
ceeded to  Bury.  I  enjoyed  the  drive,  the  excellence  of  the 
roads,  and  the  swiftness  of  the  stage-coach  ;  and  the  revival  of 
home  feelings  delighted  me.  On  the  way  I  saw  my  father  for 
a  moment ;  and  on  arriving  at  Bury,  between  twelve  and  one 
at  night,  I  ran  down  to  my  brother's  house  to  see  whether  by 
accident  any  one  of  the  family  was  still  up.  As  this  was  not 
the  case,  I  went  back  to  the  Greyhound  to  sleep.  In  my  walk 
I  was  uncomfortably  impressed  with  the  lowness  and  smallness 
of  the  Bury  houses.  And  now  I  will  confess  to  having  indulged 
myself  in  a  little  act  of  superstition.  I  had  not  heard  of  my 
brother  for  some  months  ;  and  as  a  charm  against  any  calamity 
to  him  or  his  family,  I  enumerated  all  possible  misfortunes,  with 
the  feeling  which  I  have  had  through  life,  that  all  calamities 
come  unexpectedly ;  and  so  I  tried  to  insure  a  happy  meeting 
by  thinking  of    all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to." 


CHAPTER  X. 
1805-1806. 

AFTER  my  long  absence  in  Germany,  it  was  a  great  pleas- 
ure to  see  my  English  friends  ;  and  for  some  wrecks  I 
spent  most  of  my  time  with  them.  To  those  who  lived  in 
the  country  I  paid  visits. 

In  December  I  formed  a  new  acquaintance,  of  w^hich  I  was 
reasonably  proud,  and  in  the  recollection  of  which  I  still  re- 
joice. At  Hackney  I  saw  repeatedly  Miss  Wakefield,*  a 
charming  girl.  And  one  day  at  a  party,  w^hen  Mrs.  Barbauld 
had  been  the  subject  of  conversation,  and  I  had  spoken  of  her 
in  enthusiastic  terms,  Miss  Wakefield  came  to  me  and  said, 


*  The  daughter  of  Gilbert  Wakefield. 


1805-6.] 


MRS.  BARBAULD. 


145 


Would  yon  like  to  know  Mrs.  Barbanld  "  I  exclaimed, 
"  Yon  might  as  well  ask  me  whether  I  shonld  like  to  know 
the  angel  Gabriel."  —  Mrs.  Barbanld  is,  however,  mnch 
more  accessible.  I  will  introduce  yon  to  her  nephew."  She 
then  called  to  Charles  Aikin,  whom  she  soon  after  married. 
And  he  said  :  "  I  dine  every  Sunday  with  my  uncle  and  aunt 
at  Stoke  Newington,  and  I  am  expected  always  to  bring  a 
friend  with  me.  Two  knives  and  forks  are  laid  for  me.  Will 
you  go  with  me  next  Sunday  "  Gladly  acceding  to  the  pro- 
posal, I  had  the  good  fortune  to  make  myself  agreeable,  and 
soon  became  intimate  in  the  house. 

Mr.  Barbanld  had  a  slim  figure,  a  weazen  face,  and  a  shrill 
voice.  He  talked  a  great  deal,  and  was  fond  of  dwelling  on 
controversial  points  in  religion.  He  was  by  no  means  desti- 
tute of  ability,  though  the  afflictive  disease  was  lurking  in 
him,  which  in  a  few  years  broke  out,  and,  as  is  well  known, 
caused  a  sad  termination  to  his  life. 

Mrs.  Barbanld  bore  the  remains  of  great  personal  beauty. 
She  had  a  brilliant  complexion,  light  hair,  blue  eyes,  a  small 
elegant  figure,  and  her  manners  were  very  agreeable,  with 
something  of  the  generation  then  departing.  She  received  me 
very  kindly,  spoke  very  civilly  of  my  aunt  Zachary  Crabb,  and 
said  she  had  herself  once  slept  at  my  father's  house.  Mrs. 
Barbanld  is  so  well  known  by  her  prose  writings  that  it  is 
needless  for  me  to  attempt  to  characterize  her  here.  Her  ex- 
cellence lay  in  the  soundness  and  acuteness  of  her  understand- 
ing, and  in  the  perfection  of  her  taste.  In  the  estimation  of 
Wordsworth  she  was  the  first  of  our  literary  women,  and  he 
was  not  bribed  to  this  judgment  by  any  especial  congeniality 
of  feeling,  or  by  concurrence  in  speculative  opinions.  I  may 
here  relate  an  anecdote  connecting  her  and  Wordsworth, 
though  out  of  its  proper  time  by  many,  many  years  ;  but  it 
is  so  good  that  it  ought  to  be  preserved  from  oblivion.  It 
was  after  her  death  that  Lucy  Aikin  published  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's  collected  works,  of  which  I  gave  a  copy  to  Miss 
Wordsworth.  Among  the  poems  is  a  stanza  on  Life,  written 
in  extreme  old  age.  It  had  delighted  my  sister,  to  whom  I 
repeated  it  on  her  death-bed.  It  was  long  after  I  gave  these 
works  to  Miss  Wordsworth  that  her  brother  said,  ^*  Repeat  me 
that  stanza  by  Mrs.  Barbanld."  I  did  so.  He  made  me  re- 
peat it  again.  And  so  he  learned  it  by  heart.  He  was  at  the 
time  walking  in  his  sitting-room  at  Rydal  with  his  hands  be- 
hind him ;  and  I  heard  him  mutter  to  himself,  "  I  am  not  in 

VOL.  I.  7  J 


146     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  10. 

the  habit  of  grudging  people  their  good  things,  but  I  wish  I 
had  written  those  hnes." 

"  Life !  we 've  been  long  together, 
Through  pleasant  and  through  cloudy  weather: 
'T  is  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear, 
Perhaps  'twill  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear: 
Then  steal  away,  give  little  warning. 

Choose  thine  own  time ; 
Say  not  good  night,  but  in  some  brighter  clime 
Bid  me  good  morning." 

My  friend  ColHer  had  taken  up  his  residence  in  a  small 
house  in  Little  Smith  Street,  to  the  west  of  the  Westminster 
School.  A  bedroom  was  offered  me,  and  here  I  was  glad  to 
take  refuge  while  I  was  equally  without  a  home  and  without 
employment.  The  most  important  of  his  engagements  —  im- 
portant also  to  me  eventually  —  was  that  of  reporter  to  the 
Times,  under  the  management  of  John  Walter,  then  the 
junior.* 

When  the  round  of  my  acquaintance  had  been  run  through, 
I  set  about  finding  some  literary  occupation,  for  I  found  my- 
self unable  to  live  with  comfort  on  my  small  income,  though 
with  my  economical  habits  I  needed  only  a  small  addition. 

My  first  engagement  was  to  translate  a  political  work  against 
Buonaparte,  for  which  a  bookseller  named  Tipper,  of  Fen- 
church  Street,  gave  me  a  guinea  and  a  half  per  sheet.  My 
friend  King  Fordham  thought  some  diplomatic  post  abroad 
would  be  suitable  to  me,  and  exerted  himself  in  my  behalf. 
C.  J.  Fox  wrote  that  he  thought  it  probable  he  should  soon 
have  occasion  for  the  services  of  a  person  of  my  description. 
I  went  so  far  as  to  offer  myself  to  Mr.  Fox,  but  nothing  came 
of  it.  And  it  is  well,  for  I  am  not  conscious  of  possessing 
the  kind  of  talent  required  for  the  position  of  a  diplomatist. 
Another  thought  was  that  I  might  be  engaged  as  travelling 
companion  to  some  young  man.  And  there  was  at  one  time 
some  prospect  of  my  going  to  America  in  this  capacity. 
George  Dyer  suggested  my  name  to  a  gentleman,  whose  sons 
or  nephews  were  desirous  of  visiting  the  New  World ;  and  I 
had  several  interviews  with  the  celebrated  American  mechanist 
Fulton,  who  invented  the  Catenarian  and  Torpedo,  and  of- 
fered to  Buonaparte  to  destroy  the  whole  English  fleet  by 
means  of  explosives.  Dining  with  him  one  day,  I  spoke  of 
the  "  Perpetual  Peace  "  of  Kant.  Fulton  said,  "  I  believe  in 
the  '  Perpetual  Peace ' " ;  and  on  my  expressing  surprise,  he 

*  The  father  of  the  recent  M.  P.  for  Berkshire. 


1806.] 


THE  FORUM. 


147 


added,  "  I  hare  no  doubt  war  will  be  pat  an  end  to  by  being 
rendered  so  murderous  that  by  common  consent  it  will  be 
abandoned.  I  could  myself  make  a  machine  by  means  of 
which  I  could  in  a  few  minutes  destroy  a  hundred  thousand 
men."  After  some  time  I  was  informed  that  the  visit  to 
America  was  postponed,  and  I  heard  no  more  of  it.* 

It  was  natural  that,  after  having  been  away  six  years,  I 
should  be  curious  to  see  the  old  Forum  where  I  had  formed 
the  valuable  acquaintance  of  the  Colliers.  They  too  were 
desirous  that  I  should  go.  The  old  place,  the  "  old  familiar 
faces,"  were  there.  I  have  forgotten  the  question,  but  I  spoke, 
and  was  surprised  at  the  start  I  had  taken.  I  went  a  second 
time,  and  it  was,  I  believe,  this  evening  that  an  incident  oc- 
curred which  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  any  other  praise  I 
ever  received.  The  subject  was  private  theatricals,  which 
Gale  Jones  defended,  and  I  successfully  attacked.  J  say  suc- 
cessfully, for  the  success  was  proved  by  something  more  sig- 
nificant than  applause.  As  I  left  the  room  with  Mrs.  Collier, 
when  it  was  nearly  empty,  a  little  old  man  was  waiting  about 
at  the  door  with  a  fine  young  girl  under  his  arm,  and  on  my 
coming  up  he  stretched  out  his  hand,  and  in  an  agitated  voice 
said  :  "  Will  you  allow  me,  sir,  to  take  you  by  the  hand,  and 
thank  you  for  your  speech  to-night  1  You  have  made  me  a 
happy  man,  and  I  am  under  everlasting  obligations  to  you." 
The  poor  girl  colored  exceedingly,  and  I  felt  for  her.  I  there- 
fore contented  myself  with  saying  that  I  rejoiced  if  anything 
that  had  fallen  from  me  could  be  thought  by  him  eventually 
useful ;  and  I  believe  I  added,  that  I  wished  him  to  know  I 
had  spoken  not  for  the  sake  of  argument,  but  from  my  heart. 

On  the  following  week  I  went  to  the  Forum  once  more.  On 
my  walking  up  the  centre  of  the  room  there  was  general  clap- 
ping, at  which  I  felt  so  unaffectedly  ashamed,  that  I  turned 
back,  and  never  entered  the  place  again. 

On  November  4th  I  saw  "  Coriolanus."  It  was  a  glorious 
treat.  I  never  saw  Kemble  so  great.  He  played  the  aristo- 
crat so  admirably,  and  the  democratic  tribunes  and  the  elec- 
tors of  Rome  appeared  so  contemptible,  that  he  drew  down 

*  At  this  time  Mr.  Robinson  had  in  contemplation  a  work  on  Kant's  Philos- 
ophy. Friends  advised  him  not  to  translate  any  of  Kant's  works,  but  under 
some  original  form  to  introduce  a  considerable  portion  of  translated  matter. 
He  accordingly  proceeded  so  far  as  to  fix  on  the  following  title :  "  Locke  and 
Kant ;  or,  a  Review  of  the  Philosophy  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  as  it  respects 
the  Origin  and  Extent  of  Human  Knowledge,  by  H.  C.  K."  But  the  work  was 
never  completed. 


148     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 


hisses  on  them.  The  house  was  crowded,  and  I  was  forced  to 
stand. 

In  the  month  of  December  the  CoUiers  removed  from  Little 
Smith  Street  to  a  good  house  in  Hatton  Garden,  and  I  accom- 
panied them. 

By  this  time  I  had  become  acquainted  with  Charles  Lamb 
and  his  sister ;  for  I  w^ent  with  them  to  the  first  performance 
of  "  Mr.  H."  at  Covent  Garden,  which  took  place  in  the  month 
of  December.  The  prologue  was  very  well  received.  Indeed 
it  could  not  fail,  being  one  of  the  very  best  in  our  language. 
But  on  the  disclosure  of  the  name,  the  squeamishness  of  the 
vulgar  taste  in  the  pit  showed  itself  by  hisses ;  and  I  recollect 
that  Lamb  joined,  and  was  probably  the  loudest  hisser  in  the 
house.  The  damning  of  this  play  belongs  to  the  literary 
history  of  the  day,  as  its  author  to  the  literary  magnates  of 
his  age.* 

I  was  introduced  to  the  Lambs  by  Mrs.  Clarkson.  And  I 
had  heard  of  them  also  from  W.  Hazlitt,  who  was  intimate 
with  them.  They  were  then  living  in  a  garret  in  Inner  Temple 
Lane.  In  that  humble  apartment  I  spent  many  happy  hours, 
and  saw  a  greater  number  of  excellent  persons  than  I  had 
ever  seen  collected  together  in  one  room.  Talfourd,  in  his 
Final  Memorials,"  has  happily  characterized  this  circle. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC.  1807. 

IN  January,  1807, 1  received,  through  my  friend  J.  D.  Collier, 
a  proposal  from  Mr.  Walter  that  I  should  take  up  my  resi- 
dence at  Altona,  and  become  the  Times  correspondent.  I  was 
to  receive  from  the  editor  of  the  HaTnhuTger  Correspondenteii 
all  the  public  documents  at  his  disposal,  and  was  to  have  the 
benefit  also  of  a  mass  of  information  of  which  the  restraints 
of  the  German  press  did  not  permit  him  to  avail  himself  The 
honorarium  I  was  to  receive  was  ample  with  my  habits  of  life. 
I  gladly  accepted  the  offer,  and  never  repented  having  done  so. 

*  The  farce  of  "  Mr.  H."  was  written  by  Lamb.  Its  absurdity  turns  on  the 
hero  being  ashamed  of  his  name,  which  is  only  revealed  at  the  end  as  Hogs- 
flesh. 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


149 


My  acquaintance  with  Walter  ripened  into  friendship,  and  lasted 
as  long  as  he  lived. 

This  engagement  made  me  for  the  first  time  a  man  of  busi- 
ness. How  I  executed  my  task  may  be  seen  by  a  file  of  the 
Times.  My  articles  are  from  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  "  ;  the 
first  is  dated  in  March  and  the  last  in  August,  but  there 
followed  three  letters  from  Stockholm  and  Gottenburg.* 

Having  defeated  the  Prussians  at  Jena,  Napoleon  had  ad- 
vanced into  Poland,  and  the  anxious  attention  of  all  Europe 
was  directed  to  the  campaign  now  going  on  there.  Hamburg 
was  in  the  possession  of  the  French.  Holstein,  appertaining 
to  the  kingdom  of  Denmark,  was  a  neutral  frontier  province  ; 
and  Altona,  its  capital,  was  to  be  my  residence  as  long  as  it 
continued  to  be  secure,  and  as  the  intelligence  of  the  campaign 
had  interest  for  English  politicians. 

I  soon  made  my  arrival  known  to  my  one  only  acquaintance, 
Dr.  Ehlers,  who,  however,  was  sufficient  for  all  purposes,  as  he 
forthwith  initiated  me  into  the  best  society  of  the  place,  and 
provided  for  my  personal  comforts  by  obtaining  for  me  a  lodg- 
ing in  a  very  agreeable  family.  I  lived  in  the  Konigstrasse,  in 
the  house  of  Mr.  Pauli,  a  mercantile  agent,  who  had  not  been 
prosperous  in  business,  but  who  was  most  happy  in  his  wife, 
—  a  very  sensible  and  interesting  woman,  the  sister  of  Poel, 
the  proprietor  of  the  Altona  Mercury^  a  political  newspaper  in 
which  liberal  principles  were  asserted  with  discretion  and  pro- 
priety. Pool's  wife  was  also  a  woman  of  great  personal  worth, 
and  even  of  personal  attractions,  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated 
Professor  Busch  of  Hamburg.  These  ladies  had  a  friend, 
Madame  Sieveking,  who  formed  with  them  a  society  which  in 
few  places  is  equalled.  She  w^as  a  widow,  residing  at  Ham- 
burg, and  was  a  daughter  of  the  well-known  Reimarus.  On 
the  borders  of  the  Elbe,  Poel  had  a  country-house,  where, 
especially  on  Sundays,  there  used  to  be  delightful  dinner- 
parties.   In  this  house  my  happiest  hours  were  spent. 

Among  the  most  interesting  of  those,  whose  images  still  live 
in  my  memory,  is  the  Count  d'Angiviller.  He  had  held  in 
the  court  of  Louis  XYI.  the  office  of  Intendant  of  the  Palaces, 
i.  e.  was  a  sort  of  Minister  of  Woods  and  Forests.    His  post 

*  This  correspondence,  from  "the  banks  of  the  Elbe,"  has  reference  to  the 
hopes  and  fears  and  reports,  which  ended  in  the  fall  of  Dantzic,  the  Battle  of 
Friedland,  and  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit.  The  immediate  cause  of  Mr.  Robinson's 
leaving  Altona  was  that  naval  coalition  against  England,  which  rendered  it 
necessary  for  the  British  government  to  send  Lord  Gathcart  to  Copenhagen  to 
secure  the  Danish  fleet. 


150     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 


gave  him  extensive  patronage  among  artists  and  men  of  let- 
ters, with  all  of  whom  he  had  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy. 
His  tall  person,  very  dignified  manners,  rank,  and  advanced 
age,  combined  to  render  him  an  object  of  universal  interest. 
I  was  proud  when  I  could  get  into  conversation  with  him. 
One  evening,  at  a  party,  I  chanced  to  make  use  of  the  phrase, 
^'  Diderot  et  D'Alembert."  He  instantly  put  his  hand  on  my 
shoulder,  and  said,  "  Je  vous  prie,  monsieur,  de  ne  prononcer 
jamais  ces  noms  au  meme  temps  dans  ma  presence.  Yous 
me  blessez  les  oreilles."  I  will  not  answer  precisely  for  the 
words,  but  in  substance  he  continued,  "  Diderot  was  a  mon- 
ster, guilty  of  every  vice,  but  D'Alembert  was  an  angel." 

At  the  hotel  I  first  saw  George  Stansfeld,*  a  young  man  from 
Leeds,  who  came  to  learn  German  and  to  qualify  himself  for 
mercantile  life.  We  became  intimate  and  mutually  service- 
able ;  and  my  friendship  with  him  extended  afterwards  in 
England  to  all  the  members  of  his  family. 

I  met  one  French  man  of  letters,  who  has  a  name  in  con- 
nection with  German  philosophy.  I  thought  his  manners 
agreeable,  but  he  did  not  appear  to  me  likely  to  recommend 
the  Kantian  philosophy  successfully  to  his  countrymen.  Yet 
his  book,  an  account  of  Kant's  philosophy,  supplied  for  many 
years  the  sole  information  possessed  by  the  French  on  that 
subject.    His  name  was  Charles  Yillers. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  HIS  Brother. 

Altona,  March  23,  1807. 

Dear  Thomas  :  — 

....  My  time  has  been  spent  very  pleasurably  indeed. 
I  have  seldom  in  so  short  a  time  made  the  acquaintance  of  so 
many  excellent  persons.  My  usual  good  fortune  has  brought 
me  into  the  most  intelligent  circle  in  Altona ;  so  that  my 
second  residence  in  Germany  yields  as  much  enjoyment  as  my 
former.  I  have  at  the  same  time  been  able  to  renew  my  old 
acquaintances  by  letter.  I  have  heard  from  Herr  von  Knebel 
and  Dr.  Yoigt.  Both  of  them  have  had  the  good  fortune  to 
suffer  little  or  nothing  personally  by  the  war ;  and  Yoigt 
seems  rather  to  have  enjoyed  the  scenes  he  has  witnessed. 
Napoleon  took  up  his  lodgings  in  Yoigt's  father's  house,  and 
dwelt  in  a  room  where  I  have  lounged  many  an  hour.  This 
at  once  secured  the  house  from  being  plundered,  and  at  the 

*  The  uncle  of  the  present  M.  P.  for  Halifax. 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


151 


same  time  gave  Yoigt  an  opportunity  of  seeing  most  of  the 
Marshals  of  France  and  the  ruling  men  of  the  only  ruling 
power  in  Europe.  Knebel  writes  with  more  feeling,  but  with 
the  resignation  of  a  philosopher,  who  had  foreseen  all  that  has 
happened,  and  whose  sensations  are  corrected  by  an  admira- 
tion of  Buonaparte,  which  was  a  source  of  contention  between 
us,  and  a  contempt  of  the  German  constitution  and  Princes, 
in  which  I  joined  with  him  

H.  C.  R.  TO  HIS  Brother. 

Altona,  June  7, 1807. 
....  How  do  I  spend  my  time  1  I  will  give  a  sort  of  aver- 
age journal.  I  rise  at  seven,  and  carry  into  a  summer-house 
in  the  garden  my  Italian  books  ;  here  I  prepare  my  lesson  till 
nine,  when  my  master  comes,  and  with  him  a  fellow-scholar  (a 
very  amiable  man  who  holds  an  ofl&ce  under  government,  and  is 
also  a  man  of  letters).  From  nine  to  ten  we  receive  our  Italian 
lesson,  —  that  is,  four  mornings  of  the  week.  On  Sundays  and 
the  two  post  mornings  (Wednesday  and  Saturday)  my  compan- 
ion has  letters  of  business  to  write,  and  therefore  we  cannot 
have  lessons.  The  rest  of  the  morning  is  spent  either  in  read- 
ing Italian  or  at  the  Museum.  This  is  a  sort  of  London  In- 
stitution in  miniature,  —  here  the  newsmongers  of  the  day 
associate,  —  every  member  brings  his  quota  of  falsehood  or 
absurdity,  reason  or  facts,  as  his  good  luck  favors  him.  Un- 
fortunately, the  former  are  the  ordinary  commodities,  and  I 
have  no  little  difficulty  in  understanding  or  appreciating  the 
fables  of  the  hour.  There  is  more  bonhomie  than  ill-will  in 
this.  Every  one  feels  what  ought  to  take  place,  and  every  one 
is  apt  to  confound  what  ought  to  be,  and  what  he  wishes  to 
be,  with  what  is.  Hence  we  are  as  often  taken  in  by  certain 
intelligence  of  Russian  and  Prussian  victories  as  you  can  be. 
Here,  too,  the  politics  of  the  English  cabinet  are  reviewed; 
and  I  hear  my  old  friends  the  Whig  ministers  derided  and  re- 
proached for  their  scandalously  weak,  almost  treacherous  ad- 
ministration, while  I  am  unable  to  say  a  word  in  their  defence, 
and  can  only  mutter  between  my  teeth,  "  God  grant  that  we 
do  not  jump  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire  1 "  At  half 
past  one  I  dine  in  the  house  of  a  clergyman,  who,  having  no 
wife,  keeps  a  table  for  a  number  of  bachelors  like  himself. 
Our  dinner  is  not  very  good,  but  it  is  very 'cheap,  and  the 
company  is  better  than  the  dishes.    We  have  two  Danish 


152     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 


officers,  two  physicians  (one  a  man  of  talent,  but  a  political 
despairer,  an  ex- Jacobin),  two  jurists,  two  Englishmen.  The 
other  is  a  young  man  from  Leeds  (his  name  is  Stansfeld),  for 
whom  I  felt  something  like  friendship  when  I  found  he  is  a 

Presbyterian  After  dinner  I  either  lounge  with  a 'book 

on  the  Elbe,  or  play  chess  with  Mrs.  Liitchens,  a  clever  woman, 
the  wife*  of  Liitchens,  whom  I  have  before  mentioned  as  an  old 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Clarkson.  In  the  evening  I  am  engaged 
generally  about  three  times  a  week  in  company.  Otherwise  I 
go  to  Aders  (Jameson's  partner),  a  very  clever,  agreeable  man ; 
or  he  and  one  or  two  yoimg  men  take  tea  with  me.  It  is  thus 
that  day  after  day  has  slipt  away  insensibly,  and  I  have  been 
in  danger  of  forgetting  that  the  continuance  of  this  most 
agreeable  life  is  very  precarious  indeed.  I  am  of  opinion  that 
it  cannot  possibly  last  long.  In  all  probability  we  shall  soon 
hear  of  a  peace  with  Eussia,  or  of  a  general  engagement, 
which,  it  is  ten  to  one,  will  end  in  the  defeat  of  the  Allies. 
In  either  event  I  have  no  doubt  the  French  wall  take  posses- 
sion of  Holstein.  I  am  tolerably  easy  as  to  my  personal  se- 
curity in  this  event,  and  should  I  even  be  caught  napping  and 
find  a  couple  of  gens-d'armes  at  the  side  of  my  bed  when  I 
awake  some  morning,  the  worst  would  be  an  imprisonment.  I 
state  the  worst,  hope  the  best,  and  expect  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other.  As  long  as  Eussia  continues  to  bid  defiance  to  Buona- 
parte, we  shall  be  unmolested  here.  When  this  last  protecting 
power  is  crushed  or  prevented  from  interfering  in  the  concerns  of 
the  South,  it  is  not  diihcult  to  foretell  the  measures  the  con- 
queror will  take.  Austria  will  again  be  partitioned,  the  north- 
ern maritime  powers  will  be  forced  to  shut  up  the  Baltic,  and 
perhaps  arm  their  fleets  against  us.  And  the  blockade  will 
cease  to  be  a  mere  bugbear.  Then  Napoleon  will  have  to 
choose  between  an  invasion,  which  will  be  a  short  but  hazard- 
ous experiment ;  or,  being  now  (thanks  to  our  Whig  adminis- 
tration) so  closely  allied  to  Turkey,  he  will  turn  his  arms  into 
the  East  and  destroy  our  Indian  empire  by  an  attack  from  the 
interior.  This  latter  undertaking  would  suit  the  romantic 
valor  and  vanity  of  himself  and  his  people.  These  things 
may  be  prevented  by  more  military  skill  on  the  part  of  the 
Eussians,  more  character  and  resolution  on  the  part  of  the 
Austrians,  and  more  disinterested  zeal  in  the  general  cause  of 
Europe  on  the  part  of  the  British  administration,  than  I  fear 
any  of  these  bodies  severally  possess.  The  world  might  be 
saved  if  it  did  not  still  suffer  under  an  infatuation  which  re- 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


153 


sembles  that  of  the  Egyptian  monarch,  — "  And  the  Lord 
struck  Pharaoh  with  blindness."  How  many  Pharaohs  have 
not  sat  as  then  twenty  years  on  the  thrones  of  Europe  1 

But  I  have  omitted  some  particulars  in  the  account  of  my- 
self here,  which  I  must  insert.  Of  all  my  acquaintances,  the 
most  interesting  is  Mr.  Poel.  He  is  the  brother  of  my  land- 
lady, proprietor  of  the  Altona  Mercury,  a  man  of  letters,  afflu- 
ent and  hospitable.  He  keeps  a  good  table,  and  gives  dinners 
and  suppers  several  times  a  week.  He  was  an  ardent  friend  of 
the  French  Revolution,  but  is  now  in  all  things  an  anti-Galli- 
can.  But  he  is  one  of  the  few  who,  like  Mrs.  Barbauld's  lover, 
will  still  "  hope  though  hope  were  lost."  He  is  persuaded  that 
in  the  end  the  good  cause  will  conquer  

In  my  attention  to  the  incidents  of  the  day  I  was  unremit- 
ting. I  kept  up  a  constant  intercourse  with  England.  On  my 
first  arrival  I  learned  that,  notwithstanding  the  affected  neu- 
trality of  Denmark,  the  post  from  Altona  to  England  was 
stopped,  and,  in  consequence,  all  letters  were  sent  by  Mr. 
Thornton,  the  English  minister  there,*  privately  to  Husum. 
I  called  on  him  early,  informed  him  I  should  regularly  send 
letters  under  cover  to  the  Foreign  Office,  which  he  promised 
should  be  punctually  delivered.    And  he  kept  his  word. 

The  progress  of  the  French  arms  in  Poland  was  the  object 
of  overwhelming  interest,  and  the  incessant  subject  of  conver- 
sation with  all  of  us.  As  we  had  but  one  political  feeling,  — 
for  I  cannot  call  to  mind  having  met  with  a  single  partisan  of 
Napoleon,  —  our  social  intercourse  was  not  enlivened  by  con- 
test; but  I  perceived  that  as  the  events  became  more  disas- 
trous, our  cordiality  increased,  and  that  calamity  served  to 
cement  friendship. 

I  see  from  my  notes  that  on  the  20th  of  June  the  fatal  news 
arrived  of  the  great  victory  obtained  over  the  Russians  at  Fried- 
land,  on  the  1 4th.  In  ten  days  we  were  further  informed  of  the 
armistice,  which  on  the  7th  of  July  was  succeeded  by  the  peace. 
But  afflicting  as  these  public  events  were  to  all  of  us,  it  was  not 
till  the  middle  of  July  that  they  began  to  affect  me  personally. 
On  the  14th  I  learned  that  Mr.  Thornton  was  gone.  We  had 
already  heard  reports  that  the  English  fleet  was  in  the  Sound, 
and  the  seizure  of  the  Danish  fleet  by  the  English  was  the  sub- 
ject of  speculation.  Had  I  left  Altona  then,  I  could  not  have 
been  reproached  for  cowardice  ;  but  I  made  up  my  mind  to  re- 

*  He  was  Minister  Plenipotentiarv  to  the  Hanse  Towns. 
7* 


154     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 

main  where  I  was,  until  some  act  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment rendered  my  departure  absolutely  necessary. 

Among  the  persons  whose  acquaintance  I  made  at  Poel's,  was 
Major  von  Spat,  the  second  in  command  in  the  town,  under  the 
chief  magistrate,  the  Biirgermeister.  With  the  Biirgermeister 
himself  I  used  to  play  whist  at  the  Museum.  After  the  depart- 
ure of  Mr.  Thornton,  and  other  Englishmen,  who  had  followed 
his  example,  I  met  the  Major  and  said,  "  Do  you  not  think,  Ma- 
jor, that  I  am  a  very  bold  man  in  staying  here,  now  that  our 
minister  is  gone  —  "  Not  at  all,"  he  answered.  "  The  Dan- 
ish government  is  much  too  honorable  to  resent  on  individuals, 
who  are  living  in  confidence  in  these  dominions,  the  injustice 
of  a  foreign  power."  But,  in  the  mean  while,  I  took  care  to  put 
my  things  in  order,  that,  if  necessary,  I  might  decamp  with  the 
least  possible  encumbrance. 

On  Sunday,  the  16th,  however,  two  days  before  the  actual 
bombardment  of  Copenhagen,  an  end  was  put  to  these  uncer- 
tainties, and  to  my  residence  in  Holstein.  In  the  forenoon  I 
had  a  call  from  Mr.  Aldebert,  my  first  German  friend,  with 
whom  I  went  to  Germany  in  1800,  and  who  had  property  to  a 
considerable  amount  warehoused  in  this  town. 

He,  his  clerk  (Pietsch),  another  German,  and  myself,  dined 
at  Eainville's  beautiful  hotel.  It  was  a  fine  day,  and,  as  usual 
on  Sundays,  the  gardens  of  the  hotel  were  full  of  company. 
And  here  the  Major  renewed  his  assurance  of  my  safety,  even 
should  a  war  break  out."  After  dinner  I  had  a  stroll  with  Stans- 
feld,  who  had  removed  to  Hamburg,  but  had  come  over  to  see 
me.  About  five  o'clock  I  paid  a  visit  to  Madame  Liitchens, 
whose  husband  was  English,  and  in  the  service  of  the  English 
government,  in  the  commissariat  department.  A  month  be- 
fore, as  I  knew  in  confidence,  he  had  proceeded  to  Stralsund. 
After  an  hour's  chat  with  her  I  was  going  home,  when  I  saw 
the  Biirgermeister  in  the  street,  talking  with  an  acquaintance ; 
but,  on  my  going  up  to  them,  he  turned  away  abruptly,  afi'ect- 
ing  not  to  see  me.  I  thought  this  gross  ill  manners,  and  not 
warranted  even  by  the  reported  demonstrations  of  hostility  to- 
wards Denmark  by  England.  By  reference  to  the  "Annual 
Ilegister  "  I  find  it  was  on  the  12th  that  Lord  Cathcart,  with 
a  force  of  20,000  men,  joined  the  Admiral  ofi"  Elsinore,  and  on 
the  16th  (the  day  of  which  I  am  now  speaking)  that  the  army 
landed  on  the  island  of  Zealand,  eight  miles  from  Copenhagen. 
But,  of  course,  the  public  at  Altona  knew  nothing  correctly  of 
these  proceedings.    On  my  way  to  Poel's  in  the  evening  I  was 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


155 


met  by  William  Sieveking,  one  of  the  sons  of  the  lady  whom  I 
have  mentioned.  He  had  an  air  of  anxiety  about  him,  and  told 
me  I  was  wanted  immediately  at  Mr.  Pool's.  I  must  go  at 
once,  —  something  was  the  matter,  but  he  could  not  say  what. 
A  large  party  of  ladies  were  in  the  garden,  and  as  soon  as  Ma- 
dame Poel  saw  me,  she  exclaimed,  Thank  God,  —  there  he 
is,  —  he  at  least  is  safe  !  "  I  was  then  informed  that  Major 
von  Spat  had  been  there  in  great  trouble.  The  Biirgermeister 
had  received  an  order  to  arrest  every  Englishman,  and  at  mid- 
night there  was  to  be  a  visitation  of  all  the  houses  occupied  by 
the  English.  The  Major  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  my 
being  arrested,  for  perhaps  I  had  remained  there  trusting  to 
his  assurance  of  my  safety.  I  was  therefore  told  that  I  must 
stay  the  night  at  PoeFs  country-house,  and  be  smuggled  next 
day  into  Hamburg.  But  to  this  I  would  not  consent.  I  in- 
sisted on  at  least  going  back  to  my  lodgings  to  put  money  in 
my  purs6  ;  and,  disguising  myself  by  borrowing  a  French  hat, 
I  immediately  went  back.  Having  arranged  my  own  little 
matters,  I  resolved  to  give  notice  to  all  my  fellow-countrymen 
with  whose  residences  I  was  acquainted.  And  so  effectual 
were  my  services  in  this  respect,  that  no  one,  whom  I  knew, 
was  arrested.  Indeed  the  arrests  were  confined  to  a  few  jour- 
neymen, who  were  not  considered  worth  keeping.  Of  course 
the  Holsteiners  had  no  wish  to  make  prisoners,  and  therefore 
did  their  work  very  negligently. 

I  will  relate  a  few  anecdotes  which  have  dwelt  in  my  memo- 
ry ever  since.  I  need  not  say  that  the  apparent  rudeness  of 
the  Biirgermeister,  which  had  so  much  annoyed  me,  was  now 
accounted  for. 

There  was  one  Ogilvy,  a  merchant,  who  resided  with  a  law- 
yer, and  to  whom  I  sent  the  servant  with  a  note.  I  was  in  a 
flurry,  and  wrote  on  a  slip  of  paper,  which  was  kept  as  a  curi- 
osity, and  laughed  at.  It  was  shown  to  me  afterwards  at 
Hamburg.  I  had  witten  on  it  these  words  :  "  They  '11  catch  us 
if  they  can  to-night.  I  mean  the  Danes.  I 'm  off.  —  H.  C.  E." 
It  was  shown  to  the  master  of  the  house.  "  That  Robin- 
son is  an  arrant  coward.  It  is  nothing ;  you  may  depend 
on  it."  However,  at  midnight  the  police  were  at  the  door, 
and  demanded  admittance.  When  asked  whether  Mr.  Ogilvy 
was  at  home,  the  servant,  being  forewarned,  had  a  prompt 
answer  :  I  don't  know.  That 's  his  room.  He  often  sleeps  at 
Hamburg."  The  police  went  in,  and  said  to  the  sleeper,  "  You 
are  our  prisoner."    On  which  Ogilvy's  "  German  servant " 


156     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 


awoke.  "  Why,  who  are  you  '? "  —  "  Mr.  Ogilvy's  servant.  My 
master  went  to  Hamburg  last  night,  and  as  his  bed  is  softer 
than  mine,  I  sleep  in  his  when  he  is  away."  —  '^0,  that  is  it  ] 
Well,  it  is  lucky  for  him,  for  we  should  have  taken  him.  We 
have  nothing  to  say  to  you."  —    The  stupids  !  "  said  Ogilvy ; 

there  was  my  watch  on  the  table,  and  my  clothes  were  about 
the  room."    Rather  say,  "  Good-natured  fellows." 

I  sent  a  note  to  Pietsch  also.  He  had  more  than  a  thou- 
sand pounds'  worth  of  Manchester  goods  in  a  warehouse.  In 
haste  he  removed  them  into  a  coach-house,  and  covered  them 
with  loose  straw.  The  police  came,  demanded  the  keys  of 
the  warehouse,  sealed  the  door  and  windows  with  the  govern- 
ment seal,  and  threatened  Pietsch  with  imprisonment  if  he 
broke  the  seal,  or  entered  the  warehouse.  He  solemnly  prom- 
ised he  would  not,  and  most  honorably  kept  his  word.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  nights  all  the  goods  were  transported  over  the 
Elbe.  The  empty  warehouse  was  formally  opened  by  the  gov- 
ernment officers,  after  the  seals  had  been  carefully  examined, 
and  it  had  been  found  that  Pietsch  had  most  conscientiously 
kept  his  promise. 

There  was  then  at  Altona  a  Leeds  merchant,  named  Bis- 
choff,  a  connection  of  Stansfeld's.  I  did  not  know  the  name  of 
the  street  in  which  he  lived,  and  so  was  forced  to  go  myself. 
He  was  in  bed.  Young  Stansfeld  accompanied  me,  and  we  went 
together  into  his  room.  After  he  had  heard  my  story,  he  said 
to  Stansfeld,  1st  das  wahr  was  er  sagt  ]  "  Is  what  he  says 
true  ^  ")  I  was  half  angry,  and  left  him  to  give  notice  to  one 
who  would  receive  it  more  gratefully.  There  was,  however, 
another  Englishman  in  the  house,  and  he  thought  it  prudent 
to  give  heed  to  the  warning;  they  went  out  and  begged  a 
lodging  in  the  stable  of  a  garden-house  in  the  suburb  leading 
to  Poel's.  There  they  slept.  At  daybreak,  the  morning  was 
so  fine  that  they  could  not  beheve  there  was  any  evil  going  on. 
The  sunshine  made  them  discredit  the  story,  and  they  resolved 
to  re-enter  the  town.  Fortunately  they  saw  the  servant  of 
Pauli  at  the  gate.  "  Is  Mr.  Robinson  at  home  V  —  "  No,  sir, 
*  he  went  away  last  night,  and  it  is  well  he  did,  for  at  midnight 
there  came  some  soldiers  to  take  him  up."  This  was  enough. 
Bischoff  and  Elwin  took  to  their  heels,  and  not  daring  to  go 
into  Hamburg  by  the  Altona  gate,  made  a  circuit  of  many 
miles,  and  did  not  arrive  at  Hamburg  till  late  in  the  day. 

Having  done  all  that  patriotic  good-nature  required  of  me, 
and  left  everything  in  order,  I  went  back  to  Neuemuhle,  where 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


157 


a  bed  was  provided  for  me.  Early  in  the  morning  Poel  said  : 
You  cannot  possibly  remain  here.  You  must  go  immediately 
after  breakfast  to  Hamburg.  T  have  ordered  a  boat  to  be 
here,  and  my  children,  and  some  of  the  Paulis  and  Sievekings, 
shall  go  with  you ;  and  if  you  are  questioned  you  will  be  the 
tutor."  Accordingly  there  was  a  boat  well  filled  by  the  tutor 
and  his  pupils.  We  rowed  towards  the  town,  where  I  noticed 
at  the  gate  some  soldiers  sitting  in  a  boat.  This  was  unusual, 
and  seemed  to  me  suspicious.  So,  as  we  were  approaching,  1 
said  to  the  boatman,  "  I  never  saw  Altona  from  the  Hanover 
side  of  the  river.  It  must  look  very  pretty  from  a  distance." 
—  "Ay,  sir,  it  does,"  said  the  man.  I  should  like  to  ^  see 
it.  I  '11  give  you  a  klein  Thaler  (about  2  s,)  if  you  will  row  us 
to  that  side."  —  "  Thankee,  sir,"  said  the  man  ;  and  instantly 
we  crossed  the  Thalweg,  that  is,  the  centre  of  the  river.  Now, 
it  would  have  been  a  breach  of  neutrality,  —  a  crime,  in  any 
police  officers  to  make  an  arrest  on  the  Hanoverian  territory, 
which  included  the  left  side  of  the  river,  —  and  I  was  there 
safe.  To  be  perfectly  secure,  I  would  not  land  at  the  first  Ham- 
burg gate,  but  was  rowed  to  the  second.*  There  the  tutor 
dismissed  his  pupils,  and  I  went  in  search  of  Mr.  Aldebert  at 
his  lodgings. 

I  found  a  post-chaise  at  his  door.  Pietsch  had  informed  him 
of  what  he  had  been  doing  on  the  notice  I  had  given  him ; 
and  Mr.  Aldebert  was  then  going  to  Altona  partly  to  look  after 
me.  After  thanking  me  for  the  service  I  had  rendered  him,  he 
said  :  "  I  have  provided  for  you  here.  I  occupy  the  first  floor, 
indeed  all  the  apartments  not  occupied  by  the  family  ;  but 
there  is  a  very  small  garret  in  which  you  can  sleep,  and  you 
can  use  my  rooms  as  your  own."  No  arrangement  could  be 
better ;  and  as  on  the  same  evening  he  left  for  several  days,  I 
had  the  use  of  his  handsome  apartments.  The  house  was  in 
the  Neue  Wall,  one  of  the  most  respectable  streets  :  it  was 
among  those  burnt  down  in  the  late  conflagration.t  But  I 
cannot  pretend  that  my  mind  was  quite  at  ease,  or  that  I  was 
not  sensible  of  the  peril  of  my  situation. 

My  clothes  were  brought  piecemeal,  and  at  last  came  my 
empty  trunk.  Among  the  German  merchants  I  had  several 
acquaintances,  and  I  occasionally  met  my  English  fellow-refu- 
gees. The  French  government  at  this  moment  cared  nothing 
about  us ;  nor  the  Danish,  as  it  seemed,  thoiigh,  as  I  after- 

*  The  French  took  possession  of  Hamburg  after  the  battle  of  Jena,  in  1806. 
t  This  was  written  in  1853;  the  fire  took  place  in  1842. 


158     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 

wards  learned,  I  was  an  exception  to  this  general  indiffer- 
ence. 

I  have  a  very  imperfect  recollection  of  the  incidents  of  the 
next  few  days,  and  I  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  keep  in  my 
possession  letters  or  memoranda  which  might  compromise  my 
friends. 

H.  C.  E.  TO  J.  D.  Collier,  Esq. 

HxiMBURG,  August  22,  1807. 

My  dear  Friend  :  — 

....  You  may  think  that  a  long  letter  of  gossip  would  be 
very  charming  from  a  person  in  my  situation;  it  would  be 
absolutely  romantic,  and  would  be  as  far  preferable  to  one  from 
an  ordinary  correspondent,  as  an  elopement  in  the  eyes  of  Miss 
Lydia  Languish  to  being  asked  at  church.  This  is  all  very  well 
for  the  reader,  but  not  so  for  the  writer.  Give  me  leave  to 
assure  you  that  a  man  who  is  a  prisoner,  or,  what  is  much  the 
same  thing,  liable  to  become  so  every  hour  of  his  life,  has 
little  inclination  to  sit  down  and,  as  the  phrase  is,  open  his 
heart  to  his  friends,  because  he  is  never  sure  that  his  enemies 

may  not  choose  at  the  same  time  to  take  a  peep  In  the 

meanwhile  I  shall  be  forced  to  abstain  from  the  enjoyment  of 
almost  all  direct  communication  with  my  friends  at  home. 
....  Within  the  last  three  days  nothing  of  importance  has 
occurred. 

25th  August  Hitherto  my  good  spirits  have  not  often 

left  me ;  and  I  assure  you  it  is  the  reflected  concern  of 
my  different  friends  at  home  that  most  affects  me.  I  must 
add,  too,  that  I  feel  my  own  personal  affairs  to  be  infinitely 
insignificant  compared  with  the  dreadful  calamity  that  over- 
hangs us  all.    Never  was  England  so  nearly  in  the  jaws  of 

ruin  My  late  escape  and  that  of  my  countrymen  has 

occasioned  me  to  observe  many  interesting  and  gratifying 
scenes.  I,  for  my  part,  felt  more  flattered  by  being  the  object 
of  concern  to  so  many  charming  women,  than  alarmed  by  the 
personal  danger.  I  have  also  made  an  observation  curious  to 
the  psychologist,  and  that  is  the  perfect  repose  which  arises 
from  the  consciousness  that  nothing  further  is  to  be  done  by 
one's  self.  Formerly,  when  I  came  now  and  then  to  Hamburg 
to  buy  an  old  book  or  chat  with  a  friend,  it  was  done  with 
great  anxiety  ;  and  I  was  not  at  ease  till  again  within  the 
Altona  gates.  Now  I  am  quite  comfortable,  though  the  dan- 
ger is  ten  times  greater.    I  can  do  no  more  than  I  have  done. 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


159 


If  I  am  taken,  I  shall  bear  as  well  as  I  can  the  positive  evils 
of  imprisonment ;  but  I  shall  suffer  no  reproaches  from  myself 
nor  fear  those  of  others.  And  it  is  this  which  I  am  most  ap- 
prehensive of  If  I  had  the  means  of  escape,  and  was  doubt- 
ful whether  I  should  avail  myself  of  them,  I  should  be  in  con- 
stant alarm  and  perturbation  ;  but  now  I  have  nothing  to  do 
but  to  amuse  myself  as  well  as  I  can,  and  watch  for  opportu- 
nities of  getting  off,  if  any  should  offer.  I  am,  generally 
speaking,  comfortable.  I  am  not  without  companions.  My 
kind  respects  to  all. 

On  the  19th  I  accompanied  a  merchant  of  the  name  of 
Kaufmann  to  his  country-house  at  an  adjacent  village.  Ham, 
and  strolled  about  in  an  unsettled  state ;  and  day  by  day  I 
gained  courage ;  but  on  the  25th  I  again  narrowly  escaped 
capture. 

My  friend,  the  Major,  called  on  me  to  warn  me  that  I  must 
be  on  my  guard.  The  governor,  or  Biirgermeister,  Mr.  Leve- 
zow,  had  said  to  him  that,  excepting  myself,  he  was  very  glad  all 
the  English  had  escaped.  The  suspicion  had  entered  his  mind 
that  I  was  a  secret  agent  of  the  government.  I  could  not,  he 
thought,  be  living  at  such  a  place  at  such  a  time  without  some 
especial  purpose.  And  I  think  "  (added  Yon  Spat),  "  that 
he  has  given  a  hint  to  the  French  authorities."  I  assured  the 
Major  that  the  suspicion  was  unfounded,  and  explained  to  him 
what  might  have  given  occasion  to  the  mistake.  He  was 
glad,"  he  said,  to  know  this,  and  he  would  take  care  to  inform 
Mr.  Levezow  of  what  I  had  told  him." 

It  was,  however,  too  late  ;  for  a  few  hours  afterwards,  as  I 
was  returning  home,  after  a  short  walk,  my  attention  was  ex- 
cited by  a  sound  —  St  I  st  !  But  for  the  information  I  had 
just  received,  I  should  hardly  have  noticed  it.  I  looked  and 
saw  a  fellow,  —  the  letter-carrier  between  Hamburg  and  Altona, 
who  knew  me  well,  beckoning  to  some  persons  at  a  little  dis- 
tance ;  and  at  the  same  time,  he  looked  back  and  pointed  at 
me.  At  a  glance  I  perceived  that  they  were  French  gens- 
d'armes.  They  were  lolling  by  the  side  of  a  passage,  and 
within  sight  of  my  door. 

In  an  instant  I  was  off.  I  ran  into  a  market-place  full  of 
people,  and  was  not  pursued.  If  I  had  been,  I  have  no  doubt 
the  populace  would  have  aided  my  escape.  I  repaired  to  the 
house  of  one  of  Mr.  Aldebert's  friends,  a  Mr.  Spalding,  a  sena- 
tor.   There  I  dined.    I  told  my  story,  and  it  was  agreed  that 


160     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 

I  should  not  sleep  again  at  my  lodgings.  The  next  day  but 
one  Mr.  Spalding  was  going  to  the  Mecklenburg  watering- 
place,  Dobberan,  with  his  family.  He  would  take  a  passport 
for  his  clerk,  and  in  that  capacity  I  might  accompany  him. 

The  intermediate  day  was  spent  in  removing  my  clothes 
and  taking  leave  of  my  friends.  Yet  in  that  day  I  twice 
thought  I  saw  a  suspicious  person  lurking  in  the  vicinity  of 
my  last  asylum ;  and  next  day,  when  I  had  left  the  town  several 
hours,  my  lodging  was  beset  by  the  military.  Some  gens- 
d'armes,  without  asking  any  questions,  went  to  my  garret,  burst 
open  the  door,  and  expressed  great  disappointment  at  finding 
the  room  empty.  They  used  violent  threats  towards  the 
women  of  the  house,  who  told  the  truth  with  equal  safety  to 
themselves  and  me.  Through  a  friend  I  had  obtained  from 
the  French  authorities  a  visa  to  my  old  J ena  pass ;  and  I  had 
a  passport  from  Netzel,  the  Swedish  consul  at  Altona,  with  a 
letter  from  him,  which  might,  and  in  fact  did,  prove  useful. 
Dobberan  was  then  a  small  village,  with  a  few  large  houses  to 
accommodate  the  bathing  guests  ;  but  the  sea  was  nearly  three 
miles  off.  Travelling  all  night,  we  arrived  on  the  following 
day,  in  time  to  dine  at  a  table  with  one  hundred  and  fifty 
covers,  at  which  the  sovereign  Duke,  though  absent  this  day, 
was  accustomed  to  take  a  seat. 

I  had  now  to  ascertain  what  vessels  were  about  to  set  sail 
for  Sweden.  In  the  afternoon  I  took  a  solitary  walk  to  the 
seaside.  There  I  found  none  of  the  airy  forces "  which, 
according  to  Dr.  Watts's  bad  sapphic,  "  roll  down  the  Baltic 
with  a  foaming  fury,"  but  a  naked  sea-coast  with  a  smooth 
sea,  enlivened  by  a  distant  view  of  several  English  men-of- 
war,  part  of  a  blockading  squadron. 

Next  day  I  took  a  walk  of  about  ten  miles  to  the  little 
town  of  Rostock,  a  university  town,  and  also  a  seaport.  But 
no  vessel  was  there  ;  nor' had  I  any  prospect  of  being  able  to 
make  my  escape.  In  ordinary  circumstances,  indeed,  escape 
would  be  an  unmeaning  term,  for  I  was  known  to  the  sov- 
ereign, who  had  occasionally  chatted  with  me  at  Altona.  I 
took  an  early  opportunity  of  calling  upon  one  of  his  house- 
hold, and  begged  I  might  be  excused  for  not  waiting  on  His 
Serene  Highness,  as  I  was  aware  of  his  position,  and  was 
anxious  not  to  embarrass  him.  This  message  was  very  cour- 
teously received.  I  was  assured  of  every  protection  in  the 
Duke's  power ;  but  was  requested  not  to  call  myself  an  Eng- 
lishman, and  excuse  his  affecting  not  to  know  me. 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


161 


The  good  Duke,  however,  could  not  act  on  his  own  sage 
counsel,  for,  as  I  was  one  day  not  far  from  him  at  the  table- 
d'hote,  but  carefully  avoiding  speaking  to  him  or  catching  his 
eye,  I  was  surprised  by  hearing  behind  me  in  a  loud  whisper, 
"  Prosit  Herr  Englander."  His  Serene  Highness  had  filled  a 
bumper,  and  leaning  back  behind  the  guests,  drank  to  me  as 
an  Englishman,  though  he  had  pretended  to  consider  me  an 
American.  And  one  morning,  having  walked  to  the  seaside, 
and  jumped  into  the  water  from  a  long  board  built  into  the 
sea  (the  humble  accommodation  provided  in  those  days),  I 
was  startled  by  a  loud  cry,  which  proceeded  from  the  Duke  at 
the  end  of  the  board,  —  "  Herr  Englander,  Herr  Englander, 
steigen  Sie  gleich  aus  —  10,000  Franzosen  sind  gleich  ange- 
kommen,  und  wenn  Sie  nicht  aussteigen  und  weglaufen,  wird 
man  Sie  arretiren."  {"  Make  haste  out,  Englishman,  —  10,000 
Frenchmen  are  just  come,  and  unless  you  come  out  and  run 
for  it,  you  will  be  made  a  prisoner.") 

More  good-nature  than  dignity  in  this  certainly.  But  the 
Duke  of  Mecklenburg-Schwerin  was  one  of  that  class  of  petty 
sovereigns  in  Germany,  who,  if  they  conferred  no  honor  on 
their  rank  and  power,  did  not  abuse  them  to  the  injury  of 
their  subjects.  I  had  a  formal  offer  from  him  to  send  me  on 
board  the  fleet,  which  was  in  the  offing,  if  I  would  guarantee 
the  safety  of  his  men.  This  offer  I  declined.  I  could  be 
more  sure  of  being  taken  in  than  set  down  again.  And  mean- 
while I  relied  on  the  friendly  interest  which  every  one  took  in 
me  ;  for,  though  the  Mecklenburg  flag  had  been  declared  hos- 
tile, I  was  satisfied  that  every  one  whom  I  saw  was  well  dis- 
posed towards  me. 

On  the  evening  of  the  first  of  September,  I  received  a  letter 
informing  me  that  a  ship  was  on  the  point  of  sailing  from 
Wismar  to  Stockholm.  Next  day  I  proceeded  to  Wismar, 
where  I  remained  till  the  8th.  The  only  circumstance  which 
made  me  remember  these  few  days  was  the  intercourse  which 
I  had  with  the  guests  at  the  inn,  and  which  I  recall  with 
pleasure  as  evidence  of  the  kindness  of  disposition  generally 
found  among  those  who  are  free  to  be  actuated  by  their 
natural  feelings. 

On  the  evening  of  my  arrival  the  waiter  laid  me  a  cover 
near  the  head  of  the  table.  Above  me  sat  a  colonel  of  Napo- 
leon's Italian  Guard,  who  was  resting  here  for  a  few  weeks 
after  the  fatigues  of  the  campaign  ended  by  the  recent  peace. 
At  the  head  of  the  table  was  a  Dutch  general,  then  on  his 

K 


162     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  If. 

way  to  join  jSTapoleon  in  Prussia.  Other  officers  were  present 
and  there  were  also  civilians,  chiefly  merchants. 

I  passed  myself  for  a  German,  talking  bad  French  to  the 
Italians,  with  whom  I  soon  became  well  acquainted,  and.  re- 
mained on  the  best  terms  till  my  departure.  They  were  glad 
to  read  a  few  very  common  Italian  books,  which  I  was  able  to 
lend  them.  Without  any  hypocrisy,  I  could  praise  Italian 
literature  ;  and  I  found  I  could  with  perfect  safety  abuse  the 
French.  Is  it  not  to  be  lamented "  (I  said  in  one  of  our 
walks  after  dinner)  that  Italy,  which  in  former  ages  has  been 
the  mistress  of  the  world  in  different  ways,  should  be  over- 
powered by  a  nation  that  never  produced  a  great  man  % "  This 
was  strong,  but  not  too  strong.  The  eyes  of  my  companions 
glistened  with  pleasure.  One  of  them  exclaimed,  "  Don't  sup- 
pose it  is  the  Italians  who  are  conquered  by  the  French.  It 
is  the  French  who  are  governed  by  an  Italian.  As  long  as 
Napoleon  lives  he  will  be  master  of  Em-ope.  As  soon  as  he 
goes,  Italy  will  be  independent !  "  —  "1  hope  to  God  it  will  be 
so  !  "  Sometimes  I  ventured  to  touch  on  Buonaparte  himself ; 
but  that  was  tender  ground.  They  looked  grave,  and  I 
stopped.  On  general  politics  they  talked  freely.  They  had 
liberal  opinions,  but  little  information,  —  were  a  sort  of  re- 
publican followers  of  Buonaparte,  —  good-natured  men,  with 
little  intelligence,  and  no  fixed  principles  of  any  kind,  es- 
pecially on  religion. 

One  evening  a  Dutch  merchant  came.  He  looked  me  full 
in  the  face  and  said  :  "  Napoleon  is  aU  but  omnipotent ;  but 
there  is  one  thing  he  cannot  do,  —  make  a  Dutchman  hate  an 
Englishman."    I  asked  him  to  drink  with  me. 

Among  the  stray  visitors  was  a  German  who  had  formerly 
studied  at  Jena.  We  became  good  friends  at  once.  I  had 
told  him  at  table  that  I  was  Jenenser  (true  in  one  sense). 
After  dinner,  when  we  had  gone  aside,  I  said,  "  I  am  —  " 
"You  are,"  he  said,  interrupting  me,  "an  Englishman." 
—  "  Who  told  you  so  "  —  "  Everybody.  Were  you  not  at 
Eostock  a  few  days  ago  V  —  "  Yes."  —  "  And  did  you  not  sit 
next  a  gentleman  in  green,  a  Forester  1 "  —  "I  did."  —  "I 
thought  you  must  be  the  same  from  the  description.  My 
father  said  you  talked  with  admirable  fluency,  —  quite  well 
enough  to  deceive  a  Frenchman,  —  but  he  had  no  doubt  you 
had  escaped  from  Altona.  I  was  here  a  few  days  ago,  and 
after  you  had  left  the  room  I  said  to  the  colonel,  '  Who  is  that 
gentleman  1 '     He  said,  '  C'est  un  Anglais  qui  veut  bien 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


163 


jouer  TAllemand,  mais  c'est  un  bon  enfant,  —  nous  le  laissons 
passer.'" 

This  information  rather  assured  than  alarmed  me.  From 
my  companions  here  I  had  no  apprehension ;  but  I  Jiad  letters 
from  Stansfeld  telling  me  on  no  account  to  return  to  Hamburg. 

At  length,  on  the  8th  of  September,  after  various  disap- 
pointments, the  master  of  the  little  vessel  in  which  I  had 
taken  my  passage  came  to  me  with  the  news  that  he  should 
weigh  anchor  in  an  hour. 

I  went  to  my  landlady  and  paid  my  bill,  my  portmanteau 
being  already  gone.  I  said  to  her,  "  Do  you  know  what  coun- 
tryman I  am ] "  —  "  Lord  love  you  !  "  she  cried  out,  "every  one 
knows  you.  When  you  walk  in  the  streets,  the  children  say, 
'  Da  geht  der  Englander.' "  —  "  And  the  Italian  officers,  do 
they  know  who  I  am  ]  "  —  "  To  be  sure  they  do.  I  have  heard 
them  speak  about  you  when  they  did  not  suppose  I  understood 
them.  It  is  useful  in  our  situation  to  know  more  than  people 
are  aware  of.  They  like  you.  I  have  heard  them  say  they 
had  no  doubt  you  had  run  away  from  the  Danes.  And  I  am 
very  sure  that  if  they  were  ordered  to  take  you  up,  they  would 
give  you  an  opportunity  of  escape."  This  I  believe.  I  sent  a 
friendly  message  to  them,  with  an  apology  for  not  taking  for- 
mal leave. 

I  made  my  voyage  in  a  poor  little  vessel  with  a  cargo  of 
salt  fish  on  board.  The  voyage  lasted  five  long  days.  There 
was  no  passenger  but  myself ;  and  the  crew  consisted  of  only 
four  or  five,  including  boys.  One  night  we  had  a  storm,  and  I 
Was  shut  up  alone  in  the  cabin.  I  never  before  felt  such  en- 
tire wretchedness. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  pleasure  was  intense  when  the  mas- 
ter came  to  me  in  my  cabin,  and  said  I  should  have  something 
good  for  breakfast  if  I  would  get  up.  I  had  just  begun  to 
have  an  appetite.  On  my  rising  he  poured  part  of  a  bowl  of 
cream  into  my  cup.  I  was  quite  astonished,  and,  hastening  on 
deck,  found  myself  surrounded  by  picturesque  and  romantic 
masses  of  rock  on  every  side.  We  were  on  the  coast  of  Swe- 
den, not  far  from  Dalaro,  the  port  of  Stockholm.  On  these 
barren  and  naked  rocks  I  saw  some  huts,  and  a  momentary 
feeling  of  envy  towards  the  happy  residents  on  those  quiet 
solid  spots  of  earth  caused  me  to  laugh  at  myself 

Dalaro  is  a  miserable  little  village  in  a  wild  position  at  the 
mouth  of  the  winding  river  on  which  Stockholm  is  built.  Here 
passengers  are  accustomed  to  alight,  as  the  windings  of  the 


164     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 

river  render  the  voyage  long.  My  intention,  however,  was  to 
remain  in  the  vessel ;  but  I  was  led  to  change  my  plan.  My 
portmanteau  was  brought  to  me  quite  wet.  It  had  fallen  into 
the  water ;  and  this  accident  afforded  me  another  opportunity 
of  witnessing  the  kindness  of  strangers.  The  collector  of  the 
customs  could  speak  Swedish  only,  but,  through  a  person  pres- 
ent who  knew  English,  he  invited  me  to  spend  the  evening  at 
his  house.  Calling  his  servants,  and  asking  me  for  my  key,  he 
opened  my  box,  and  all  my  clothes  and  linen  were  at  once  seized 
and  carried  off  by  the  women.  My  books  and  papers  were  care- 
fully collected,  and  laid  on  a  stove  to  dry.  In  a  few  minutes  I 
was  told  that  my  host  was  going  to  fetch  his  wife,  who  was  on  a 
visit  to  a  friend,  and  I  was  invited  to  accompany  him.  We 
entered  a  stately  boat,  and  were  rowed  by  six  men,  through  — 
what  shall  I  say  1  —  streets  and  valleys  of  stone,  a  labyrinth 
of  rocks  and  water.  We  alighted  at  steps  which  led  to  a  neat 
house,  surrounded  by  fir-trees,  the  only  trees  of  the  place. 
There  Madame  had  been,  but  she  was  gone.  The  master  of 
the  house,  a  sea-captain,  named  Blum,  spoke  a  little  bad  Eng- 
lish, and  regaled  me  with  dried  beef,  biscuit,  and  brandy.  It 
was  a  scene,  and  my  companions  were  fit  for  the  characters  of  a 
romance.  On  our  return  by  another  water-way  we  found  the 
lady  and  her  sister  had  arrived.  They  were  pretty  women, 
and  spoke  a  little  French.  My  supper  was  nice,  and  consisted 
chiefly  of  novelties  ;  dried  goose  (cared  as  we  cure  hams,  and 
as  red),  salt  fish,  oaten  cakes,  and  hot  custard. 

After  supper,  seeing  that  I  was  fatigued,  the  lady  of  the 
house  took  a  candle,  and  said  she  would  accompany  me  to  my 
room.  Those  who  were  present  rose  ;  I  was  shown  into  a  neat 
room  with  a  bed  in  an  alcove,  and  they  sat  with  me  five 
minutes,  as  if  they  were  paying  me  a  visit  in  my  own  apart- 
ment. When  I  got  up  next  morning,  after  a  long  and  sound 
night's  sleep,  I  found  in  an  antechamber  all  my  clothes  dry 
and  clean,  the  linen  washed  and  ironed. 

The  next  day,  the  15th  of  September,  I  proceeded  to  Stock- 
holm. The  drive  in  a  little  wagon  or  open  chaise,  not  broad- 
er at  the  wheels  than  a  sedan  chair,  was  very  amusing.  I 
passed  a  succession  of  rocky  and  wooded  scenes,  with  many 
pieces  of  water,  —  I  could  not  tell  whether  sea  or  lake.  In 
addition  to  the  fir,  I  noticed  the  birch,  and  a  few  oaks ;  but 
the  latter  seemed  to  languish.  Few  houses  were  to  be  seen,  — 
all  of  wood  bedaubed  with  red  ochre,  which  at  a  distance  gives 
the  appearance  of  a  brick  building.    The  road  was  most  excel- 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


165 


lent,  and  the  horses,  though  small,  were  capital  goers.  We 
kept  on  in  one  trot  without  intermission,  and  made  the  jour- 
ney in  less  than  five  hours. 

The  entrance  into  Stockholm,  through  the  southern  sub- 
urb "  (I  wrote  at  the  time),  "  disappoints  the  expectation  raised 
by  the  brilliant  view  in  the  distance  ;  for  the  greater  number 
of  the  houses  are  low  and  poor,  some  even  roofed  with  earth, 
and  the  larger  houses  have  an  uncomfortable  air  of  nakedness 
and  coldness  from  the  absence  of  architectural  decorations,  — 
the  windows  without  sills,  the  fronts  without  cornice,  pediment, 
&c.  But  its  position  is  singularly  striking.  In  England  — 
but  then  it  would  be  no  longer  Stockholm  —  it  would  be  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  cities  in  the  world.  In  other  words, 
were  English  capital  and  English  enterprise  applied  to  it,  it 
would  be  unrivalled.  It  stands  on  seven  islands,  but  is  cut 
into  three  great  divisions  by  large  basins  of  water,  two  salt  and 
one  fresh,  which  are  not  crowded  with  vessels,  but  are  beautiful 
streets  of  still  water,  exhibiting  shores  at  various  distances  and 
of  diversified  character.  The  island  on  which  stand  the  royal 
palace  and  the  state  buildings  presents  a  remarkable  mass  of 
picturesque  and  romantic  objects." 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  I  wrote  this  description  in  a  let- 
ter. I  have  since  seen  Edinburgh,  Eome,  Venice,  Naples,  and 
Palermo ;  and  I  now  think,  if  I  am  not  deceived  by  imperfect 
recollection,  that  Stockholm  would,  for  beauty  of  situation, 
bear  comparison  with  any  of  these. 

Having  fixed  myself  in  the  best  hotel  in  the  city,  I  delivered 
a  letter  which  had  been  given  to  me  at  Dalaro.  It  was  ad- 
dressed to  a  young  man,  named  Tode,  a  merchant's  clerk,  who 
I  was  assured  knew  English,  was  intelligent  and  obliging,  and 
would  be  proud  to  be  my  cicerone.  I  found  him  all  this,  and 
even  more.  He  was  my  companion  to  churches,  palaces,  and 
public  buildings,  and  was  most  kind  and  assiduous  in  his  at- 
tentions. 

I  also  went  in  search  of  a  lady  not  unknown  in  the  literary 
world,  and  who  as  a  poetess  is  still  recollected  with  respect  un- 
der the  name  of  Amelia  von  Imhofi".  She  had  been  Maid  of 
Honor  to  one  of  the  Duchesses  of  Saxe- Weimar,  which  office 
she  held  when  I  visited  Weimar  in  1803-4.  Her  reputation 
she  owed  chiefly  to  an  Idyllic  tale,  Die  Sch wester  von  Les- 
bos." She  had  married  a  Swedish -general,  Yon  Helwig.  I 
was  received  by  her  with  great  cordiality.  During  my  stay  at 
Stockholm,  Herr  von  Helwig  was  from  home.    I  was  almost 


166     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  11. 

the  first  Weimar  acquaintance  slie  had  seen  since  her  marriage, 
and  I  had  interesting  facts  to  relate  concerning  her  native 
country.  She  was  engaged  to  dine  that  day  with  a  Pohsh 
countess,  wife  of  Herr  von  Engerstrom,  an  historic  character ; 
and  she  instantly  wrote  a  note  intimating  that  she  should 
bring  with  her  an  English  gentleman,  a  personal  friend,  just 
arrived.  There  came  an  answer,  in  which  the  Countess  ex- 
pressed her  regret  that  her  dinner  was  not  such  as  she  could 
with  propriety  set  before  a  foreign  gentleman.  She  would  re- 
ceive me  some  other  day.  Frau  von  Helwig  laughed  at  this, 
and  with  reason.  I  went,  and  certainly  never  was  present  at 
a  more  copious  banquet,  or  one  at  which  the  company  seemed 
more  distinguished,  judging  by  title  and  appearance.  I  can- 
not specify  foreign  dishes  after  thirty-six  years,  but  I  did  make 
a  memorandum  that  I  used  eleven  plates  at  the  meal.  One 
national  custom  I  recollect.  The  company  being  assembled 
in  the  drawing-room  before  dinner,  two  large  silver  waiters 
were  brought  in,  one  full  of  liqueur  glasses  of  brandy,  the  other 
of  little  pieces  of  bread  and  cheese.  Whilst  these  were  being 
carried  round  to  the  gentlemen,  the  ladies  went  by  themselves 
into  the  dining-room ;  and  when  we  followed  we  found  them 
seated  at  table,  every  alternate  chair  being  left  vacant.  This 
was  an  interesting  day,  and  I  regret  that  I  am  not  better  able 
to  remember  the  conversation,  which  was  indicative  of  the 
state  of  opinion  among  the  Swedish  gentry  and  nobility  at  a 
most  critical  period. 

This  was  the  16th  of  September,  and  it  should  be  borne  in 
mirid  that  Copenhagen  capitulated  to  the  English  on  the  7th, 
and  that  before  very  long  (March,  1809)  the  King  of  Sweden 
was  driven  from  the  throne.  Partly  by  my  own  observation 
at  the  dinner-party,  and  partly  by  the  information  given  me 
by  Frau  von  Helwig,  I  became  fully  aware  of  the  unpopularity 
of  the  King.  I  was  struck  by  the  coldness  with  which  every 
remark  I  made  in  his  praise  was  received ;  but  I  was  in  some 
measure  prepared  for  this  by  what  I  had  heard  from  the  min- 
ister at  Altona.  On  my  reading  to  him  Wordsworth's  sonnet, 
his  only  comment  was  that  the  poet  had  happily  and  truly  de- 
scribed the  King  as  "  above  all  consequences "  ]  and  on  my 
eulogizing  the  King  to  Herr  von  Engerstrom  for  his  heroic 
refusal  to  negotiate  with  Buonaparte,  the  reply  was,  "  Per- 
sonne  ne  doute  que  le  roi  soit  un  homme  d'honneur." 

Among  the  company  were  two  military  men  of  great  per- 
sonal dignity,  and  having  the  most  glorious  titles  imaginable. 


1807.] 


ALTONA,  SWEDEN,  ETC. 


167 


One  was  a  knight  of  the  "  ISTorthern  Star  "  ;  the  other  a  knight 
of  the  "  Great  Bear,"  the  constellation.  I  had  been  intro- 
duced as  a  German,  and  was  talking  with  these  Chevaliers 
when  Frau  von  Helwig  joined  us,  and  said  something  that  be- 
trayed my  being  an  Englishman.  Immediately  one  of  them 
turned  away.  The  cause  was  so  obvious  that  my  friend  was 
a  little  piqued,  and  remonstrated  with  him.  He  made  an 
awkward  apology,  and  unsuccessfully  denied  her  imputation. 
This  anti-English  feeling  was  so  general  in  Sweden  at  this 
time  that  I  was  advised  to  travel  as  a  German  through  the 
country,  and  in  fact  did  so. 

On  the  18th  I  dined  with  Frau  von  Helwig.  She  had  in- 
vited to  meet  me  a  man  whom  I  was  happy  to  see,  and  whose 
name  will  survive  among  the  memorable  names  of  the  last  age. 
I  refer  to  the  patriotic  Arndt.  He  had  fled  from  the  pro- 
scription of  Buonaparte.  His  life  was  threatened,  for  he  was 
accused,  whether  with  truth  I  do  not  know,  of  being  the  au- 
thor of  the  book  for  the  publication  of  which  Salm  had  been 
shot.  My  falling  in  with  him  now  caused  me  to  read  his 
works,  and  occasioned  my  translating  entire  his  prophecy  in 
the  year  1805  of  the  insurrection  of  the  Spaniards,  which 
actually  took  place  within  less  than  a  year  of  our  rencontre  in 
Sweden.  This  I  inserted  in  a  review*  of  Wordsworth's 
pamphlet  on  the  convention  of  Cintra.  I  was  delighted  by 
this  lively  little  man,  very  spirited  and  luminous  in  his  con- 
versation, and  with  none  of  those  mystifying  abstractions  of 
which  his  writings  are  full.  He  spoke  with  great  admiration 
of  our  "  Percy's  Reliques." 

On  the  21st  I  set  out  on  my  journey  to  Gottenburg,  having 
bought  a  conveyance,  with  whip  and  other  accompaniments, 
which  altogether  cost  me  about  £  4.  The  peasants  are  obliged 
to  supply  horses,  and  I  paid  9  d,  per  horse  for  each  stage  of 
about  seven  miles.  My  driver  was  sometimes  a  man  or  boy, 
but  sometimes  also  a  woman  or  girl.  I  am  not  accustomed  to 
make  economical  statements,  but  it  is  worth  mentioning  that, 
including  the  loss  on  the  resale  of  my  carriage,  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  my  journey,  over  350  miles,  during  seven  days,  was 
less  than  £  6  !  I  had  been  furnished  with  a  card,  not  bigger 
than  my  hand,  and  yet  containing  all  the  Swedish  words  I 
should  want.  With  this  I  managed  to  pass  through  the  coun- 
try, without  meeting  with  any  incivility  or  inconvenience  ; 
and,  after  what  I  have  said  as  to  expense,  I  need  not  add, 

*  In  Cumberland's  "  London  Review." 


168     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


without  being  imposed  upon.  How  many  Swedes  will  say  the 
same  of  a  journey  in  England  1  The  only  occasion  on  which 
I  thought  I  had  reason  to  complain,  was  when  a  peasant  pro- 
vided for  my  driver  a  child  who  could  not  hold  the  reins. 

With  the  name  of  Sweden  I  had  associated  no  other  idea 
than  that  of  barren  rocks;  but  during  the  first  four  days  of 
my  journey,  in  which  I  left  behind  me  two  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  there  was  an  uninterrupted  succession  of  beautiful  forest 
scenery.  The  roads  were  admirable,  needing  no  repair,  for 
the  substance  was  gTanite.  There  was  no  turnpike  from  begin- 
ning to  end.  The  scenery  was  diversified  by  a  number  of  lakes, 
every  now  and  then  a  small  neat  town,  or  a  pretty  village,  and 
a  very  few  country-houses.  The  fir,  or  pine,  and  beech  were 
almost  the  only  trees. 

I  reached  Gottenburg  on  the  27th.  The  environs  of  the 
town  consist  of  masses  of  rock  with  very  scanty  interstices  of 
meagre  vegetation,  —  a  scene  of  dreary  barrenness  ;  yet  com- 
merce has  enriched  this  spot,  and  the  Gottenburg  merchants, 
as  I  witnessed,  partake  of  the  luxuries  which  wealth  can  trans- 
port anywhere. 

On  the  30th  I  commenced  my  voyage  homewards ;  the  age 
of  steam  was  not  come,  but  after  a  comfortable  passage  of  eight 
days,  T  sighted  the  coast  of  my  native  country.  We  landed  at 
Harwich  on  the  afternoon  of  the  7th  of  October. 

H.  C.  E.  TO  T.  E. 

Harwich,  7th  October,  1807. 

Thank  God  I  once  more  touch  English  land.  To-night  I 
mean  to  sleep  at  Witham.  To-morrow  I  shall  be  in  town. 
And  I  suppose  before  long  shall  come  to  Bury.  I  shall  in  the 
mean  while  expect  your  letter  of  congratulation. 

Kind  love  to  father,  sister,  little  Tom,  and  everybody. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

VERY  soon  after  my  return  from  Holstein,  Mr.  Walter  pro- 
posed that  I  should  remain  in  the  service  of  the  Times  as 
a  sort  of  foreign  editor ;  that  is,  I  was  to  translate  from  the 
foreign  papers,  and  write  on  foreign  politics.  This  engagement 
began  at  the  close  of  the  year ;  and  I  entered  on  my  duties  in 
high  spirits.   I  could  not  easily  find  in  my  life  a  six  months  in 


1807.] 


FOREIGN  EDITOR  OF  THE  TIMES. 


169 


which  I  was  more  happy  in  every  respect.  I  began  to  feel  that 
I  had  something  to  do,  and  could  do  it.  In  looking  back  on 
my  work,  I  see  nothing  to  be  proud  of  in  it ;  but  it  connected 
me  with  public  life,  and  that  at  least  was  agreeable.  And 
though  I  did  not  form  a  portion  of  the  literary  society  of 
London,  I  was  brought  into  its  presence. 

It  was  my  practice  to  go  to  Printing  House  Square  at  five, 
and  to  remain  there  as  long  as  there  was  anything  to  be  done. 

After  a  time  I  had  the  name  of  editor,  and  as  such  opened 
all  letters.  It  was  my  office  to  cut  out  odd  articles  and  para- 
graphs from  other  papers,  decide  on  the  admission  of  corre- 
spondence, &c. ;  but  there  was  always  a  higher  power  behind. 
While  I  was  in  my  room,  Mr.  Walter  was  in  his,  and  there  the 
great  leader,  the  article  that  was  talked  about,  was  written. 
Nor  did  I  ever  write  an  article  on  party  politics  during  my 
continuance  in  that  post.  I  may,  however,  add,  that  in  Feb- 
ruary I  inserted  a  letter  with  my  initials,  which  was,  I  believe, 
of  real  use  to  the  government.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  paper 
printed  on  February  13th.  It  is  a  justification  of  the  English 
government  for  the  seizure  of  the  Danish  ships.  The  Ministry 
defended  themselves  very  ill  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  my 
letter,  I  stated  the  fact  that  the  Holstein  post-office  refused  to 
take  in  my  letters  to  England,  and  alleged  as  a  reason  that 
Buonaparte  had  obliged  the  government  to  stop  the  communi- 
cation with  England.  The  same  evening,  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  this  fact  was  relied  upon  by  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley 
as  conclusive.  Indeed,  it  was  more  to  the  purpose  than  any 
fact  alleged  by  the  government  speakers. 

In  the  month  of  March  I  was  invited  to  dine  with  Southey 
at  Dr.  Aikin's.  I  was  charmed  with  his  person  and  manners, 
and  heartily  concurred  with  him  in  his  opinions  on  the  war.  I 
copy  from  a  letter  to  my  brother  :  "  Southey  said  that  he  and 
Coleridge  were  directly  opposed  in  politics.  He  himself  thought 
the  last  administration  (Whig)  so  impotent  that  he  could  con- 
ceive of  none  worse  except  the  present ;  while  Coleridge  main- 
tained the  present  Ministry  to  be  so  corrupt  that  he  thought  it 
impossible  there  could  be  a  worse  except  the  late."  On  poetry 
we  talked  likewise  :  I  bolted  my  critical  philosophy,  and  was  de- 
.fended  by  Southey  throughout.  I  praised  Wordsworth's  "  Son- 
nets" and  preface.  In  this,  too,  Southey  joined  ;  he  said  that 
the  sonnets  contain  the  profoundest  political  wisdom,  and  the 
preface  he  declared  to  be  the  quintessence  of  the  philosophy 
of  poetry." 

VOL.  I.  8      -  '  • 


170     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENKY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


A  few  days  after  this  (viz.  on  March  15  th)  I  was  introduced 
to  Wordsworth.  I  breakfasted  with  him  at  Lamb's  and  ac- 
companied him  to  Mr.  Hardcastle's,  at  Haleham,  Deptford, 
with  whom  Mrs.  Clarkson  was  on  a  visit.  Wordsworth  re- 
ceived me  very  cordially,  owing,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  a  favor- 
able introduction  by  Mrs.  Clarkson,  aided,  of  course,  by  my 
perfect  agreement  with  him  in  politics  and  my  enthusiastic 
and  unconcealed  admiration  of  his  poetry  gave  me  speedy  ad- 
missipn  to  his  confidence.  At  this  first  meeting  he  criticised 
unfavorably  Mrs.  Barbauld's  poetry,  which  I  am  the  less  un- 
willing to  mention  as  I  have  already  recorded  a  later  estimate 
of  a  different  kind.  He  remarked  that  there  is  no  genuine 
feeling  in  the  line, 

In  what  brown  hamlet  dost  thou  joy  ?  * 

He  said,  "Why  hrownV^  He  also  objected  to  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's line, 

"  The  lowliest  children  of  the  ground,  moss-rose  and  violet/'  &c. 

"  Now',"  said  he,  "  moss-rose  is  a  shrub."  The  last  remark 
is  just,  but  I  dissent  from  the  first ;  for  evening  harmonizes 
with  content,  and  the  brown  hamlet  is  the  evening  hamlet. 
Collins  has  with  exquisite  beauty  described  the  coming  on  of 
evening :  — 

"  And  hamlets  brown,  and  dim  discovered  spires." 

Wordsworth,  in  my  first  tete-a-tete  with  him,  spoke  freely 
and  praisingly  of  his  own  poems,  which  I  never  felt  to  be  un- 
becoming, but  the  contrary.  He  said  he  thought  of  writing  an 
essay  on  "  Why  bad  Poetry  pleases."  He  never  wrote  it,  —  a 
loss  to  our  *  literatiu-e.  He  spoke  at  length  on  the  connection 
of  poetry  with  moral  principles  as  well  as  with  a  knowledge 
of  the  principles  of  human  nature.  He  said  he  could  not  re- 
spect the  mother  who  could  read  without  emotion  his  poem, 

"  Once  in  a  lonely  hamlet  I  sojourned." 

He  said  he  wrote  his  "  Beggars  "  to  exhibit  the  power  of 
physical  beauty  and  health  and  vigor  in  childhood,  even  in  a 
state  of  moral  depravity.    He  desired  popularity  for  his 

"  Two  voices  are  there,  one  is  of  the  sea," 

as  a  test  of  elevation  and  moral  purity. 

I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  reading  in  the  MontJily  Re- 
view a  notice  of  the  first  volume  of  Coleridge's  poems  before  I 

,  *  Ode  to  Content. 


1808.] 


COLERIDGE. 


171 


went  abroad  in  1800,  and  of  the  deliglit  the  extracts  gave 
me ;  and  my  friend  Mrs.  Clarkson  having  become  intimate 
with  him,  he  was  an  object  of  interest  with  me  on  my  return 
from  Germany  in  1805.  And  when  he  dehvered  lectures  in 
the  year  1808,  she  wished  me  to  interest  myself  in  them.  I 
needed,  however,  no  persuasion.  It  was  out  of  my  power  to 
be  a  regular  attendant,  but  I  wrote  to  her  two  letters,  which 
have  been  printed,  for  want  of  fuller  materials,  in  the  Notes 
and  Lectures  on  Shakespeare,"  edited  by  Mrs.  Henry  Cole- 
ridge.* At  the  time  of  my  attending  these  lectures  I  had  no 
personal  acquaintance  with  Coleridge.  I  have  a  letter  from 
him,  written  in  May,  1808,  sending  me  an  order  for  admission. 
He  says  :  Nothing  but  endless  interruptions,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  dining  out  far  oftener  than  is  either  good  for  me,  or 
pleasant  to  me,  joined  with  reluctance  to  move  (partly  from 
exhaustion  by  company  I  cannot  keep  out,  for  one  cannot, 
dare  not  always  be  '  not  at  home,'  or  '  very  particularly  en- 
gaged,'—  and  the  last  very  often  will  not  serve  my  turn) 
these,  added  to  my  bread-and-cheese  employments,  -f-  my 
lectures,  which  are  —  bread  and  cheese,  i.  e.  a  very  losing  bar- 
gain in  a  pecuniary  view,  have  prevented  me  day  after  day 
from  returning  your  kind  call.  I  will  as  soon  as  I  can.  In 
the  mean  time  I  have  left  your  name  with  the  old  woman  and 
the  attendants  in  the  office,  as  one  to  whom  I  am  always  ^  at 
home '  when  I  am  at  home.  For  Wordsworth  has  taught  me 
to  desire  your  acquaintance,  and  to  esteem  you  ;  and  need  I 
add  that  any  one  so  much  regarded  by  my  friend  Mrs.  Clark- 
son  can  never  be  indifferent,  &c.,  <fec.,  to  S.  T.  Coleridge."  f 

*  Pickering,  1849. 

t  I  find  among  my  papers  two  pages  of  notes  of  Coleridge's  lecture,  Febru- 
ary 5,  1808:  — 

Feb.  5th,  1808.   Lecture  2d  on  Poetry  (Shakespeare),  &c. 
Detached  Minutes. 

The  Grecian  Mythology  exhibits  the  symbols  of  the  powers  of  nature  and 
Hero-worship  blended  together.  Jupiter  both  a  King  of  Crete  and  the  per- 
sonified Sky. 

Bacchus  expressed  the  organic  energies  of  the  Universe  which  work  by 
passion,  —  a  joy  without  consciousness;  while  Minerva,  &c.,  imported  the 
pre-ordaining  intellect.  Bacchus  expressed  the  physical  origin  of  heroic 
character,  a  felicity  beyond  prudence. 

In  the  devotional  hymns  to  Bacchus  the  germ  of  the  first  Tragedy.  Men 
like  to  imagine  themselves  to  be  the  characters  they  treat  of,  — hence  dramatic 
representations.  The  exhibition  of  action  separated  from  the  devotional  feel- 
ing.   The  Dialogue  became  distinct  from  the  Chorus. 

The  Greek  tragedies  were  the  Biblical  instruction  for  the  people. 

Comedy  arose  from  the  natural  sense  of  ridicule  which  expresses  itself 
naturally  in  mimicry. 

Mr.  Coleridge,  in  Italy,  heard  a  quack  in  the  street,  who  was  accosted  by 


172     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


In  a  visit  to  Bury,  my  friend  Hare  Naylor  being  a  guest  at 
the  house  of  Sir  Charles  Bunbury,  my  brother  and  I  were  in- 
vited to  dinner  by  this  beau-ideal  of  an  English  sportsman, 
who  was  also  well  known  as  a  Whig  politician  and  a  man  of 
honor.  A  few  months  afterwards  I  met  him  in  London,  when 
I  was  walking  with  Lamb.  Sir  Charles  shook  hands  with  me, 
and  asked  where  my  regiment  was.  I  evaded  the  question. 
Lamb  was  all  astonishment  —  "I  had  no  idea  that  you  knew 
Sheridan."  —  "Nor  do  L  That  is  Sir  Charles  Bunbury."  — 
"  That 's  impossible.  I  have  known  him  to  be  Sheridan  all 
my  life.  That  shall  be  Sheridan.  You  thief!  you  have 
stolen  my  Sheridan  !  " 

That  I  did  not  quite  neglect  my  German  studies  is  shown 
by  my  having  translated  for  the  Monthly  Repository  Lessing's 
"  Education  of  the  Race."  * 

Though  I  had  not  the  remotest  intention  now  of  studying 
the  law,  yet  during  this  spring  T  luckily  entered  myself  a 
member  of  the  Middle  Temple ;  and  I  at  the  same  time  exer- 

his  servant-boy  smartly ;  a  dialogue  ensued  which  pleased  the  mob ;  the  next 
day  the  quack,  having  perceived  the  good  effect  of  an  adjunct,  hired  a  boy  to 
talk  with  him.    In  this  way  a  play  might  have  originated. 

The  modern  Drama,  like  the  ancient,  originated  in  religion.  The  priests 
exhibited  the  miracles  and  splendid  scenes  of  religion. 

Tragi-Comedy  arose  from  the  necessity  of  amusing  and  instructing  at  the 
same  time. 

The  entire  ignorance  of  the  ancient  Drama  occasioned  the  reproduction  of 
it  on  the  restoration  of  literature. 

Harlequin  and  the  Clown  are  the  legitimate  descendants  from  the  Vice  and 
Devil  of  the  ancient  Comedy.  In  the  early  agesj  very  ludicrous  images  were 
mixed  with  the  most  serious  ideas,  not  without  a  separate  attention  being  paid 
to  the  solemn  truths;  the  people  had  no  sense  of  impiety;  they  enjoyed  the 
comic  scenes,  and  were  yet  edified  by  the  instruction  of  the  serious  parts.  Mr. 
Coleridge  met  with  an  "ancient  MSl  at  Helmstadt,  in  which  God  was  repre- 
sented visiting  Noah's  family.  The  descendants  of  Cain  did  not  pull  off 
their  hats  to  the  great  visitor,  and  received  boxes  of  the  ear  for  their  rude- 
ness ;  while  the  progeny  of  Abel  answered  their  catechism  well.  The  Devil 
prompted  the  bad  children  to  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  backwards. 

The  Christian  polytheism  withdrew  the  mind  from  attending  to  the  whisper- 
ings of  conscience ;  yet  Christianity  in  its  worst  state  was  not  separated  from 
humanity  (except  where  zeal  for  Dogmata  interfered).  Mahometanism  is  an 
anomalous  corruption  of  Christianity. 

In  the  production  of  the  English  Drama,  the  popular  and  the  learned  writers 
by  their  opposite  tendencies  contributed  to  rectify  each  other.  The  learned 
would  have  reduced  Tragedy  to  oratorical  declamation,  while  the  vulgar 
wanted  a  direct  appeal  to  their  feelings.  The  many  feel  what  is  beautiiful, 
but  they  also  deem  a  great  deal  to  be  beautiful  which  is  not  in  fact  so:  they 
cannot  distinguish  the  counterfeit  from  the  genuine.  The  vulgar  love  the 
Bible  and  also  Hervey's  "  Meditations." 

The  essence  of  poetry  universality.  The  character  of  Hamlet,  &c.  affects 
all  men ;  addresses  to  personal  feeling ;  the  sympathy  arising  from  a  reference 
to  individual  sensibility  spurious.    [N.  B.  This  applies  to  Kotzebue.] 

*  Monthly  Repository,  Vol.  I.,  1806,  pp.  412,  467. 


1S08.] 


CORUXXA, 


173 


cised  myself  in  business  speaking  by  attending  at  the  Surrey 
Institution. 

Dui'ing  some  weeks  my  mind  was  kept  in  a  state  of  agita- 
tion in  my  editorial  capacity.  The  Spanish  revolution  had 
broken  out,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  likely  to  acquire  so  much 
consistency  as  to  become  a  national  concern,  the  Times,  of 
course,  must  have  its  correspondent  in  Spain ;  and  it  w^as  said, 
who  so  fit  to  write  from  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  as  he 
who  had  successfully  written  from  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  1  I 
did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  reject  the  proposal  of  Mr.  Walter  that 
I  should  go,  but  I  accepted  the  offer  reluctantly.  I  had  not 
the  qualifications  to  be  desired,  but  then  I  had  experience. 
I  had  some  advantage  also  in  the  friendship  of  Amyot,  who 
gave  me  letters  which  were  eventually  of  service  ;  and  I  was 
zealous  in  the  cause  of  Spanish  independence. 

I  left  London  by  the  Falmouth  mail  on  the  night  of  July 
19th,  reached  Falmouth  on  the  21st,  and  on  the  23d  embarked 
in  a  lugger  belonging  to  government,  —  the  Black  Joke,  Cap- 
tain Alt.  The  voyage  was  very  rough,  and  as  I  afterwards 
learnt,  even  dangerous.  We  were  for  some  time  on  a  lee 
shore,  and  obliged  to  sail  with  more  than  half  the  vessel  under 
water ;  a  slight  change  in  the  wind  would  have  overset  us ; 
but  of  all  this  I  was  happily  ignorant. 

I  landed  at  Corunna  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  July  31st, 
and  was  at  once  busily  employed.  I  found  the  town  in  a  state 
of  great  disorder ;  but  the  excitement  was  a  joyous  one,  the 
news  having  just  arrived  of  the  surrender  of  a  French  army  in 
the  south  under  Marshal  Dupont.  This  little  town,  lying  in 
an  out-of-the-way  corner  of  Spain,  was  at  this  period  of  impor- 
tance, because,  being  the  nearest  to  England,  it  became  the  point 
of  communication  between  the  Spanish  and  English  govern- 
ments. The  state  of  enthusiastic  feeling  in  Galicia,  as  well  as 
in  every  other  province  of  Spain  where  the  French  were  not, 
rendered  the  English  objects  of  universal  interest.  I  took 
Avith  me  several  letters  of  introduction,  both  to  merchants  and 
to  men  in  office,  but  they  were  hardly  necessary.  As  soon  as 
I  could  make  myself  intelligible  in  bad  Spanish,  and  even  be- 
fore, with  those  who  understood  a  little  French,  I  was  accept- 
able everywhere,  and  I  at  once  felt  that  I  should  be  in  no 
want  of  society.  I  put  myself  in  immediate  connection  with 
the  editor  of  the  miserable  little  daily  newspaper,  and  from 
him  I  obtained  Madrid  papers  and  pamphlets.  There  were 
also  a  number  of  Englishmen  in  the  place,  —  some  engaged  in 


174    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 

commerce,  others  attracted  by  curiosity.  And  there  was  al- 
ready in  the  harbor  the  Defiance,  a  74-gun  ship,  Captain 
Hotham,  with  whom  and  his  officers  I  soon  formed  an  in- 
teresting acquaintance.  Of  the  town  itself  I  shall  merely  say 
this  :  it  lies  at  the  extremity  of  one  horn  of  a  bay,  and  is  very 
picturesque  in  its  position.  The  rocks  which  run  along  the 
tongue  of  land  are  exceedingly  beautiful;  on  that  tongue, 
between  the  city  and  the  sea,  are  numerous  low  windmills, 
which,  as  I  first  saw  them  in  the  dusk  of  evening,  made 
me  think  that  Don  Quixote  needed  not  to  have  been  so  very 
mad  to  mistake  them  for  giants.  As  I  looked  on  the  narrow 
streets  of  the  town,  and  the  low  and  small  houses  with  shoots 
throwing  the  rain-water  into  the  middle  of  the  street,  the 
thought  more  than  once  occurred  to  me,  that  probably  in  the 
times  of  good  Queen  Bess  the  streets  of  London  presented  a 
somewhat  similar  appearance.  The  windows  are  also  doors, 
and  every  house  has  its  balcony,  on  which,  when  it  is  in  the 
shade,  the  occupants  spend  much  time.  The  intrigues  of 
which  the  Spanish  plays  and  romances  are  full  are  facilitated 
by  the  architecture,  —  it  being  equally  easy  to  get  access  by 
the  windows  and  escape  from  the  roof.  The  beggars  are 
charmingly  picturesque,  and  have  in  their  rags  a  virtuosity 
worthy  a  nation  whose  most  characteristic  literature  consists 
of  beggar-romances. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  T.  E. 

In  the  evening  about  seven  all  is  life  and  activity.  The 
streets  are  crowded,  especially  those  towards  the  bay,  and  it  is 
at  this  time  that  if  everybody  had  a  wishing-cap  all  the  world 
would  fly  to  Spain  for  two  or  three  hours.  The  beauty  of  the 
evenings  is  indescribable.  There  is  a  voluptuous  feeling  in 
the  atmosphere,  which  diffuses  joy,  so  that  a  man  need  not 
think  to  be  happy.  There  is  a  physical  felicity,  which  renders 
it  superfluous  to  seek  any  other.  And  when  we  add  the  lan- 
guor produced  by  the  heat  in  the  middle  of  the  day  (which, 
however,  I  have  not  felt  so  much  as  I  expected),  we  can  ac- 
count for  the  indolence  of  the  Spanish  character. 

My  business  was  to  collect  news  and  forward  it  by  every 
vessel  that  left  the  port,*  and  I  spent  the  time  between  the 

*  My  letters  to  the  Times  are  dated  "  Shores  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay"  and 
"  Corunna."  The  first  appeared  on  August  9,  1808;  the  hist  on  January  26, 
1809. 

An  extract  from  Mr.  Robinson's  first  communication,  dated  August  2,  will 


1808.] 


COKUNNA. 


175 


reception  and  transmission  of  intelligence  in  translating  the 
public  documents  and  in  writing  comments.  I  was  anxious 
to  conceal  the  nature  of  my  occupation,  but  I  found  it  neces- 
sary from  time  to  time  to  take  some  friends  into  my  confi- 
dence. 

Among  the  earliest  and  latest  of  my  Corunna  acquaintance 
were  the  officers  of  the  Defiance.  I  became  especially  inti- 
mate with  Lieutenants  Stiles  and  Banks,  and  Midshipman 
Drake.  They  seemed  to  have  more  than  a  brother's  love  for 
each  other.  This  perhaps  is  the  natural  consequence  where, 
as  in  this  instance,  each  felt  that  in  the  hour  of  danger  he 
might  owe  his  life  to  his  companions.  I  at  length  imagined  I 
could  be  happy  on  shipboard.  These  young  men  and  I  ren- 
dered each  other  mutual  service.  My  lodgings  were  frequent- 
ly their  home,  and  they  assisted  me  in  the  transmission  of 
letters.  I  introduced  them  to  partners  at  balls,  and  gained 
credit  with  the  ladies  for  so  doing. 

There  were  several  houses  at  which  I  used  to  visit ;  occa- 
sionally I  was  invited  to  a  formal  Tertulia.  At  these  Tertu- 
lias  the  ladies  sit  with  their  backs  against  the  wall  on  an  ele- 
vated floor,  such  as  we  see  in  old  halls.  The  gentlemen  sit 
before  them,  each  cavalier  on  a  very  small  straw-bottomed 
chair  before  his  dama,  and  often  with  his  guitar,  on  which  he 
klimpers,  and  by  aid  of  which,  if  report  say  truly,  he  can 
make  love  without  being  detected.  The  company  being  seat- 
ed, a  large  silver  plate  is  given  to  each  guest,  and  first  a  cup 
of  rich  and  most  delicious  chocolate  is  taken,  —  then,  to  cor- 
rect it,  a  pint  tumbler  of  cold  water.    Preserved  fruits  and 

show  the  high  spirits  and  the  favorable  prospects  which  animated  the  Spanish 
people  at  the  time  of  his  arrival.  "  When  we  consider,  as  is  officiallv  stated, 
that  not  a  Frenchman  exists  in  all  Andalusia,  save  in  bonds ;  that  in  Portugal, 
Junot  remains  in  a  state  of  siege;  that  all  the  South  of  Spain  is  free;  and  that 
in  the  North  the  late  victories  of  the  patriots  in  Arragoh  have  broken  the  com- 
munication between  the  French  forces  in  Biscay  and  Catalonia,  we  need  not 
fear  the  speedy  emancipation  of  the  capital,  and  the  compression  of  the  French 
force  within  the  provinces  adjoining  Bayonne.  When  this  arrives  it  will  be 
seen  whether  the  long-suffering  of  the  powers  of  the  North,  as  well  as  of  the 
whole  French  people,  may  not  find  an  end,  and  whether  thus  at  length  a  period 
may  not  be  put  to  that  tyranny  which  seemed  so  firmly  established." 

The  next  communication  (August  4)  announced  the  surrender  of  Dnpont's 
army;  and  the  third  (on  August  8)  the  flight  of  Joseph  Napoleon  from  Madrid. 

On  September  26,  Mr.  Robinson  writes:  "The  glorious  and  astonishing 
exertions  of  the  Spanish  Patriots,  of  which  it  is  more  correct  to  say  that  the 
Spaniards  became  soldiers  in  performing  them,  than  that  they  performed  them 
because  they  were  soldiers,  ended  in  the  capture  or  destruction  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  numerous  forces  which  had  penetrated  the  interior  of  the  country, 
while  the  few  that  could  eifect  their  escape  were  driven  to  the  Northern 
provinces."   


176  .  REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 

other  sweetmeats  follow  in  abundance,  and  these  in  their  turn 
are  corrected  by  a  second  pint  of  water.  Nothing  can  exceed 
the  dulncss  of  these  parties,  but  I  found  them  useful  as  les- 
sons in  Spanish.  It  was  not  till  October  that  I  had  admission 
to  the  tables  of  the  Spanish  gentry.  I  dined  usually  at  the 
Font  ana  d'Oro,  the  chief  hotel,  where  the  dinners  were  the 
worst  I  was  ever  condemned  to  sit  down  to,  —  the  meat  bad, 
and  rendered  intolerable  by  garlic.  The  only  excellent  meat 
was  the  Spanish  ham,  cured  with  sugar;  and  the  only  dish  for 
an  epicure  was  the  olla  podrida,  a  medley  to  be  compared  with, 
though  differing  from,  a  Yorkshire  pie. 

Among  my  earliest  English  acquaintance  was  a  Captain 
Kennedy,  who  filled  the  office  of  Minister  to  the  Galician 
Junta.  We  became  well  acquainted,  and  were  of  use  to  each 
other.  He  sang  charmingly,  and  was  a  very  handsome  man ; 
his  mother  was  the  famous  Mrs.  Kennedy,  the  actress. 

On  the  13th  of  October  the  first  of  a  series  of  events  took 
place,  which  mark  one  of  the  most  memorable  periods  of  my 
life.  On  that  day  there  arrived  a  detachment  of  English 
troops  under  the  command  of  Sir  David  Baird.  Luckily  for 
myself,  I  had  a  few  days  before  become  acquainted  with  Gen- 
eral Brodrick,  and  he  had  introduced  me  to  Admiral  de  Courcy, 
who  was  stationed  in  the  Tonnant,  a  ship  of  the  line.  Captain 
Hancock  and  I  had  received  an  invitation  to  dine  with  the 
Admiral  this  day.  In  the  morning,  when  I  was  over  my  books, 
I  was  startled  by  the  report  of  cannon,  and,  running  to  the 
ramparts,  beheld  more  than  150  vessels,  transports,  sailing  in 
a  double  row  before  a  gentle  breeze.  It  was  a  striking  spec- 
tacle, and  I  felt  proud  of  it.  But  I  remarked  that  the  sight 
was  rather  mortifying  than  gratifying  to  the  pride  of  some  of 
the  Spanish  gentry,  who  were  looking  on,  and  who  might  feel 
humiliated  that  their  country  needed  such  aid.*  We  had 
dined,  when,  on  a  sudden,  the  Admiral  rose  and  cried  out, 
^'  Gentlemen  !  open  your  quarters  "  ;  on  our  doing  which  an 
officer  placed  himself  between  each  two  of  us.  Among  the 
arrivals  were  Sir  David  Baird,  General  Crawford,  &c.  e  had 
half  an  hour's  formal  chat  and  drank  success  to  the  expedition. 

*  Mr.  Robinson  says  in  his  letter  of  the  22d  of  October:  "  In  one  respect  I 
was  almost  pleased  to  remark  the  indifference  of  our  reception,  —  they  do  not 
"want  us,  thought  I,  iant  rnieux  I  and  God  grant  they  may  not  find  themselves 
mistaken!  There  is  great  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  people;  they  have  no 
idea,  apparently,  that  it  is  possible  for  them  to  be  beaten ;  their  rage  is  un- 
bounded when  the  name  of  Buonaparte  is  mentioned;  but  their  hatred  of  the 
French  is  mixed  with  contempt." 


1808.] 


ARRIVALS  FROM  ENGLAND. 


177 


After  remaining  a  few  days  in  Corunna  the  troops  proceeded 
to  the  interior,  to  join  the  army  under  Sir  John  Moore.  The 
expedition,  I  have  understood,  was  ill  planned  j  the  result  be- 
longs to  the  history  of  the  war. 

On  the  20th  there  was  an  arrival  which,  more  than  that  of 
the  English,  ought  to  have  gratified  the  Spaniards.  I  wit- 
nessed a  procession  from  the  coast  to  the  Town  Hall,  of  which 
the  two  leading  figures  were  the  Spanish  General  Eomana  and 
the  English  Minister,  Mr.  Frere.  Few  incidents  in  the  great 
war  against  Napoleon  can  be  referred  to  as  rivalling  in  roman- 
tic interest  the  escape  of  the  Spanish  soldiers  under  General 
Eomana  from  the  North  of  Germany  j  but,  on  beholding  the 
hero,  my  enthusiasm  subsided.  Eomana  looked,  in  my  eyes, 
like  a  Spanish  barber.  I  was  therefore  less  surprised  and 
vexed  than  others  were  when,  in  the  course  of  events,  he 
showed  himself  to  be  an  ordinary  character,  having  no  just 
sense  of  what  the  times  and  the  situation  required  from  the 
Spanish  nation.  On  the  other  hand,  I  received  a  favorable 
impression  from  the  person  and  address  of  Mr.  Frere.  And 
when,  in  a  few  months,  the  public  voice  in  England  was  raised 
against  him  as  the  injudicious  counsellor  who  imperilled  the 
English  army  by  advising  their  advance  on  Madrid,  my  own 
feeling  was  that  he  was  unjustly  treated. 

On  November  3d  there  was  an  arrival  from  England,  which 
was  to  me  a  source  of  some  amusement.  Early  in  the  morning  a 
servant  from  my  friend  Madame  Mosquera  *  came  in  great 
haste  to  request  that  I  would  go  to  her  immediately.  I  found 
her  full  of  bustle  and  anxiety.  "  There  is  just  arrived,"  said 
she,  "  an  English  grandem,  - —  a  lord  and  lady  of  high  rank. 
They  will  dine  on  board  their  ship,  and  come  here  in  the  even- 
ing. All  the  arrangements  are  made  :  I  am  to  attend  them  in 
a  carriage  on  shore,  and  the  Duke  of  Yeraguas  is  to  accom- 
pany me  ;  and  there  must  be  a  second  gentleman,  and  we  hope 
you  will  go  with  us.  They  are  to  take  a  refresco  here,  and  to- 
morrow they  are  to  dine  with  the  Countess  Bianci.  You  are 
to  be  invited  to  be  at  the  dinner ;  and  what  I  want  of  you 
now  is  that  you  instruct  me  how  I  am  to  receive  my  lord  and 
lady.''  My  first  inquiry  was  who  these  great  persons  were. 
No  other  than  my  Lord  and  Lady  Holland.  My  determina- 
tion was  at  once  taken.  I  told  Madame  that  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  attend  her  on  shore ;  I  was  not  of  noble  birth,  nor 
a  tit  companion  for  the  descendant  and  representative  of  Co- 

*  Mr.  Robinson  sometimes  spells  this  name  Moschera. 

8=*  I. 


178     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 

lumbus.  Colonel  Kennedy,  by  birth  no  *better  than  myself, 
was,  in  virtue  of  his  diplomatic  position,  the  first  Englishman 
at  Corunna,  and  must  therefore  be  invited.  (Poor  Kennedy 
received  his  invitation,  and  when  he  heard  that  he  owed  to  me 
the  honor,  he  declared  he  would  never  forgive  me,  for  he  and 
the  Duke  and  the  Baroness  were  made  to  sit  in  the  carriage 
between  three  and  four  hours  waiting  for  the  mistress  of  Hol- 
land House.)  As  to  the  reception,  I  said,  you  have  only  to  do 
for  them  what  you  would  do  for  the  Spanish  grandees  of  the 
first  rank,  —  and  besides  the  usual  chocolate  and  sweetmeats, 
send  up  tea  and  bread-and-butter.  That  there  might  be  no 
mistake  I  requested  a  loaf  to  be  brought,  and  I  actually  cut  a 
couple  of  slices  as  thin  as  wafers,  directing  that  a  plate  should 
be  filled  with  such.  The  tea  equipage  I  was  assured  was  ex- 
cellent, —  procured  in  London.  I  said  there  would  be  no  im- 
propriety in  my  meeting  my  lord  and  lady  at  the  house,  and 
therefore  promised  to  attend.  After  a  wearisome  waiting  on 
our  part,  the  noble  visitors  and  their  escort  arrived.  Lady 
Holland,  with  her  stately  figure  and  grand  demeanor;  my 
lord,  with  his  countenance  of  bonhomie  and  intelligence  ;  a 
lad,  said  to  be  the  second  son  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  a  Lord 
Something  Eussell,  —  perhaps  the  present  Prime  Minister  *  of 
England ;  and  a  gentleman  whom  I  have  heard  called  satiri- 
cally Lady  Holland's  atheist,  a  Mr.  Allen,  but  better  known  as 
an  elegant  scholar  and  Edinburgh  reviewer,  who  in  that  char- 
acter fell  into  a  scrape  by  abusing  some  Greek  that  was  by 
Pindar.  The  party  was  a  small  one.  In  a  few  minutes  after 
the  arrival  of  the  guests  the  refresco  was  brought  in.  All  the 
servants  were  in  gala  dresses,  and  a  table  being  set  out  in  the 
large  reception-room,  a  portly  man  brought  in  a  huge  silver 
salver,  resembling  in  size  the  charger  on  which  in  Italian  pic- 
tures the  head  of  John  the  Baptist  is  usually  brought  by  Her- 
od's step-daughter.  This  huge  silver  dish  was  piled  up  with 
great  pieces  of  bread-and-butter  an  inch  thick,  sufiicient  to 
feed  Westminster  School.  This  was  set  down  with  great  so- 
lemnity. Next  came  a  large  tea-tray  of  green  and  red  tin,  such 
as  might  have  been  picked  up  at  Wapping.  This  was  covered 
w^ith  all  sorts  of  indescribable  earthenware.  The  teapot,  which 
was  of  tin,  had  probably  not  been  in  use  for  years,  and  there- 
fore the  moment  Madame  Mosquera  took  hold  of  it  to  pour 
out  the  tea,  the  lid  fell  in  and  filled  the  room  with  steam.  She 
managed  to  pour  out  a  cup,  which  she  ran  with  to  my  lady, 

*  This  was  written  in  1848. 


1808.] 


MADAME  LAVAGGL 


179 


who  good-naturedly  accepted  it.  This  done,  she  ran  with 
another  cup  to  Lord  Holland.  She  was  full  of  zeal,  and  her 
little  round  figure  perspired  with  joy  and  gladness.  Mosquera 
saw  the  ridicule  of  the  exhibition  and  tried  to  keep  her  back, 
twitching  her  gown  and  whispering  audibly,  "  Molly,  you  are 
mad  1  "  She,  however,  ran  to  me  full  of  glee,  Have  not  I 
done  well  % "  The  gentlemen  were  glad  to  inquire  of  us,  the 
residents,  the  news  of  the  day.  Lord  Holland  was  known  to 
be  among  the  warmest  friends  of  the  Spanish  cause ;  in  that 
respect  differing  from  the  policy  of  his  Whig  friends,  who  by 
nothing  so  much  estranged  me  from  their  party  as  by  their 
endeavor  to  force  the  English  government  to  abandon  the 
Spanish  patriots. 

Before  the  events  occurred  which  precipitated  the  departure 
of  us  all,  I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  one  highly  interest- 
ing and  remarkable  woman.  This  was  Madame  Lavaggi.  Her 
husband  was  the  Treasurer  of  the  kingdom,  that  is  of  Galicia. 
He  owed  his  place,  and  indeed  everything,  to  her,  —  he  was 
younger  than  she,  and  a  well-looking  man.  She  was  one  of  the 
plainest  women  I  ever  saw,  —  I  should  say  the  very  plainest. 
The  fortune  was  hers,  and  she  took  the  lead  in  all  things.  She 
had  character  and  energy,  and  I  felt  more  interest  in  her  con- 
versation than  in  that  of  any  other  person.  But  she  was  alto- 
gether uneducated.  She  spoke  French  very  ill,  and  could  hardly 
write,  —  for  instance,  in  a  short  note  she  spelt  quand,  cant,  — 
but  her  zeal  against  the  French  rendered  her  eloquent,  almost 
poetical.  She  was  very  religious,  and  loyal  without  being  in- 
sensible to  the  abuses  of  the  government.  Her  father  had  been 
Prime  Minister  under  Charles  YL,  and  she  was  fond  of  relating 
that  at  one  time  six  portfolios  or  seals  of  office  were  held  by  him. 
At  her  house  I  was  a  frequent  and  favored  guest,  and  I  was  able 
to  return  these  civilities  by  substantial  services. 

The  time  was  approaching  when  these  services  would  be 
wanted.  Before  this  occurred,  however,  I  determined  on 
taking  a  holiday,  and  having  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mur- 
phy, the  architect  who  wrote  a  book  on  The  Gothic  Architec- 
ture of  Portugal,"  proposed  that  we  should  go  together  to  Mad- 
rid ;  he  agreed  to  this,  and  went  to  buy  a  carriage  for  our  jour- 
ney, but  returned  with  the  information,  which  was  a  great  se- 
cret, that  it  was  not  advisable  to  advance,  for  the  English  army 
w^as  on  its  retreat !    This  was  on  November  2 2d,* 

*  In  his  letter  of  November  12th,  Mr.  Robinson  says:  "  My  last  letter,  which 
was  of  the  9th,  imparted  to  you  the  anxious  feelings  with  which  I  was  impressed 


180     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


As  the  intelligence  became  daily  worse  in  December,  others 
were  led  to  consider  how  their  personal  safety  might  be  secured, 
and  left  the  place.  This  was  the  means  of  increasing  my  inti- 
macy with  the  Lavaggis  and  the  English  officers  in  authority ; 
I  became  known  also  to  some  of  the  Spaniards  in  office,  including 
members  of  the  Junta,  —  that  is,  the  Galician  government, 
which  collectively  had  the  quality  of  Majesty  in  formal  ad- 
dresses. 

I  was  repeatedly  in  the  company  of  Arguelles,  the  famous 
statesman  and  orator,  whose  person  and  manners  inspired  me 
with  greater  respect  that  those  of  any  other  Spaniard. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles  I  was  learning  the  language 
rapidly,  and  was  able  to  read  Spanish  books ;  and  before  the 
'  close  of  the  year  I  found  myself  able  to  take  interest  in  general 
society.  But,  excepting  Madame  Lavaggi,  there  was  not  a  wo- 
man who  appeared  to  have  any  intelligence  or  strength  of  mind, 
though  all  were  warm  patriots.  There  were  several  agreeable 
women,  but  only  one  to  be  conversed  with  except  on  balls  and 
operas.  When  I  received  from  England  the  famous  pamphlet 
of  Cevallos,  which  first  exposed  to  Europe  the  infamous  treat- 
ment of  the  Spanish  princes  by  Buonaparte,  I  carried  it  to  a 
Spanish  lady  who  spoke  French ;  she  looked  at  the  title  gravely, 
and  returned  it  saying,  I  never  look  into  any  book  that  is  not 
given  me  by  my  confessor."  The  ordinary  conversation  of  the 
ladies  was  frivolous  and  undignified,  but  innocent,  and  their  in- 

when  I  wrote  it.  You  learned  from  it  that  the  campaign  was  opened  by  an 
attack  on  several  parts  of  the  Spanish  line  by  the  French;  and  you  were  in- 
formed that  those  attacks  had  been  successful." 

''November  25?/?..  — The  intelhgence  brought  by  the  Lady  Pelleio  packet 
from  Corunna  is  of  an  unfavorable  complexion,  yet  such  as  we  might  perhaps 
have  expected  from  the  first  appearance  of  Buonaparte  upon  the  theatre  of 
war.  General  Blake's  army,  after  sustaining  repeated  attacks,  is  said  at  last  to 
have  been  completely  defeated,  while  the  advanced  body  of  the  French  have 
even  reached  Valladolid. 

"  The  news  from  the  Endish  army  on  its  way  from  Portugal  is  no  less  dis- 
tressing.   It  is  said  that  3,(300  of  the  men  under  Sir  John  Moore  are  sick." 

"Corunna,  December  Sth.—A  serious  responsibility  is  incurred  by  that 
government,  whichever  it  was,  to  which  the  lamentable  delay  is  to  be  miputed, 
which  followed  the  arrival  of  those  troops  in  the  harbor  of  Corunna.  The  utter 
want  of  all  preparations  for  promotins:  the  march  of  that  army  was  seen  with 
deep  affliction  by  both  British  and  Spaniards.  No  man  pretends  to  fix  the 
culpability  upon  any  one ;  they  can  only  judge  of  those  who  arc  privy  to  the 
neojotiations  which  preceded  the  expedition.  The  sad  effect,  however,  is  very 
obvious ;  for  but  for  this  delay  the  united  British  army  would  not^  have  been 
compelled  to  retreat  before  the  foe,  leaving  him  a  vast  reach  of  territory  at  his 
command." 

"  December  10th.  —  A  tale  is  current  which,  if  not  true,  has  been  invented 
by  an  Arragonese,  tliat  Buonaparte  has  sworn  that  on  the  1st  of  January  his 
brother  shall  be  at  Madrid,  Marshal  Bessieres  at  Lisbon,  and  himself  at  Sara- 
gossa." 


1809.] 


MORALE-  OF  ARMY  COMMISSIONERS. 


181 


delicacies  were  quite  unconscious.  Every  Spanish  woman  is 
christened  Mary,  and  to  this  there  is  some  addition  by  which 
they  are  generally  known.  I  was  puzzled  at  hearing  a  very  lively 
laughing  girl  called  Dolores,"  but  was  told  she  was  christened 
Maria  de  los  Dolores,  —  the  Mother  of  Sorrows.  One  other  was 
always  called  ^'  Conche  "  j  that  I  found  to  be  an  abridgment  of 
Conception,  —  Maria  de  la  Conception  being  her  proper  name. 

I  had  till  the  very  last  leisure  to  amuse  myself  occasionally 
both  with  books  and  society,  but  as  the  year  drew  to  a  close  the 
general  anxiety  and  trouble  augmented ;  and  before  it  was  at 
an  end  I  confidently  anticipated  the  result,  though  I  felt  bound 
in  honor  to  remain  at  my  post  till  the  last ;  and  from  the  num- 
ber of  my  acquaintance  among  the  English  officers  and  diplo- 
matists, I  felt  no  apprehension  of  being  abandoned.* 

1809. 

My  notes  are  too  few  to  enable  me  to  give  a  precise  date  to 
some  of  the  more  interesting  and  notable  occurrences  of  this 
year.  Several  of  these  have  a  bearing  on  the  morale  of  public 
men,  but  I  would  not  insert  them  here  if  I  were  not  perfectly 
sure  of  the  substantial  correctness  of  what  I  relate. 

This  I  must  state  as  the  general  impression  and  result, 
that  in  the  economical  department  of  our  campaign  in  Spain 
there  was  great  waste  and  mismanagement,  amounting  to  dis- 
honesty.    One  day  came  to  me  full  of  glee,  and  said  : 

^'  I  have  done  a  good  day's  work  :  I  have  put  £  50  in  my  pocket. 

C  [who  was  one  of  the  Commissariat]  wanted  to  buy  some 

[I  am  not  sure  of  the  commodity].  He  is  bound  not  to  make 
the  purchase  himself,  so  he  told  me  where  I  could  get  it  and 
what  I  was  to  give,  and  I  have  X  50  for  my  commission."  On 
my  expressing  surprise,  he  said,  "0,  it  is  always  done  in  all 
purchases." 

Another  occurrence,  not  dishonorable  in  this  way,  but  still 
greatly  to  be  regretted,  must  be  imputed,  I  fear,  to  a  very 
honorable  man.  Only  a  very  few  days  before  the  actual  em- 
barkation of  the  troops,  there  arrived  from  England  a  cargo  of 
clothing,  —  a  gift  from  English  philanthropists  (probably  a 
large  proportion  of  them  Quakers)  to  the  Spanish  soldiers. 
The  Supercargo  spoke  to  me  on  his  arrival,  and  I  told  him  he 
must  on  no  account  unload,  —  that  every  hour  brought  fugi- 

*  On  December  23d,  Mr.  Robinson  says:  "A  letter  from  Salamanca  an- 
nounced that  Joseph,  the  Usurper,  is  at  Madrid,  and  issues  his  mandates  as  if 
Spain  were  already  conquered,  though  no  one  obeys  him." 


182     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB' ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


tives,  —  that  the  transports  were  collected  for  the  troops, 
which  were  in  full  retreat,  —  and  that  if  these  articles  were 
landed  they  would  become,  of  course,  the  prey  of  the  French. 
He  said  he  would  consult  General  Brodrick.  I  saw  the  Super- 
cargo next  day,  and  he  told  me  that  the  General  had  said  that 
the  safest  thing  for  him  to  do  was  to  carry  out  his  instructions 
literally,  —  land  the  clothes,  get  a  receipt,  and  then  whatever 
happened  he  was  not  to  blame.    And  he  acted  accordingly.* 

Some  weeks  before  the  actual  embarkation  Lavaggi  applied 
to  me  for  assistance  in  placing  in  security  the  papers  and 
accounts  belonging  to  Galicia,  and  held  by  him  as  Treasurer. 
He  could  not  let  it  be  known  that  he  was  about  to  run  away, 
and  therefore  requested  me  to  purchase  the  charter-party  of 
one  of  the  merchant  vessels  lying  in  the  harbor.  This  I 
effected.  There  was  a  vessel  laden  with  a  sort  of  beans  called 
caravanzes,  the  property  of  a  well-known  character,  one  Cap- 
tain Ashe,  who  held  the  charter-party.  He  became  afterwards 
notorious  as  author  of  "  The  Book  "  about  the  Queen  of  George 
lY.,  which  was  the  subject  of  so  many  rumors,  and  ultimately 
suppressed.  In  the  transaction  with  Captain  Ashe  I  took  care 
to  have  all  the  legal  documents.    When  the  cargo  was  dis- 

*  In  a  letter  to  the  Times,  January  6  th,  Mr.  Robinson  writes :  "Within  a 
single  day  everything  has  changed  its  appearance  in  this  place ;  and  both  Eng- 
lish and  Spanish  seem  to  be  seriously  alarmed,  not  for  the  fate  of  the  country 
alone,  or  even  the  province,  but  of  the  town  and  themselves. 

"  On  whichever  side  we  look,  we  see  cause  for  distress ;  the  enemy  advancing 
in  the  front,  Portugal  abandoned  to  the  right,  the  Asturias  defenceless  to  the 
left;  and  in  the  distance,  uncertainty  and  obscurity." 

"  January  Sth.  —  The  peril  is  drawing  nigh,  and  the  apprehensions  and  fears 
of  the  unmilitary  are  therefore  increased ;  but  the  danger  is  now  unequivocally 
perceived,  and  people  begin  to  meet  it  manfully.  As  a  public  expression  of 
the  sense  of  our  situation,  the  theatre  is  this  evening  shut  for  the  first  time." 

"  There  is  a  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  English  troops,  notwithstanding 
their  retreat.  This  has  relieved  our  minds  from  a  great  embarrassment.  A 
Spanish  populace,  especially  the  female  half  of  it,  is  no  despicable  power;  and 
it  was  apprehended  by  some,  that  in  case  the  English  were  unsuccessful,  the 
people  might  rise  in  favor  of  the  French.  Hitherto,  the  contrary  is  apparent. 
I  have  once  or  twice  heard  exclamations  from  the  women  which  seem  to  tend 
to  a  disturbance,  exclaiming  against  the  traitors,  who  had  sent  for  the  English 
to  be  massacred,  and  then  abandoned  them." 

"  During  the  clay  there  has  been  a  number  of  arrivals.  Our  streets  swarm, 
as  a  few  weeks  since,  with  English  officers:  but  the  gayety  and  splendor  which 
graced  their  first  entrance  into  Spain  have  given  way  to  a  mien  and  air  cer- 
tainly more  congenial  with  the  horrid  business  of  war.  I  do  not  mean  that 
they  manifest  any  unworthy  or  dishonorable  sentiment;  on  the  contrary,  as  far 
as  1  can  judge  from  the  flying  testimony  of  those  I  converse  with,  the  army  has 
throughout  endured  with  patience  its  privations  and  long  suffering;  and,  since 
its  arduous  and  difficult  retreat,  displayed  an  honorable  constancy  and  valor. 
They  speak  with  little  satisfaction  of  all  that  they  have  seen  in  Spain,  and 
I  fear  are  hardly  just  towards  the  people  whom  they  came  to  protect  and 
rescue." 


1809.]         ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  LEAVING  CORUNNA.  183 


charged  at  Plymouth,  caravanzes  were  so  high  in  price  that  all 
the  expenses  of  the  voyage  to  England,  which  was  not  contem- 
plated, was  defrayed.  The  ship  was  chartered  to  Cadiz,  to 
which  place  we  were  bound.  I  was  the  legal  owner,  and  as  such 
passed  to  and  fro. 

On  January  11th  a  number  of  troops  arrived,  and  it  was 
announced  that  the  French  were  near.  During  this  time  the 
Spaniards  did  not  conceal  their  indignation  at  the  retreat.  It 
was  affirmed,  with  what  truth  I  had  not  the  means  of  judging, 
that  there  were  many  passes  capable  of  defence,  and  that  the 
enemy  might  have  been  easily  stopped.  Why  this  easy  task 
was  not  undertaken  by  General  Romana  was  never  explained 
to  me.  But  I  certainly  heard  from  the  retreating  officers 
themselves  that  the  retreat  was  more  properly  a  flight,  and 
that  it  was  conducted  very  blunderingly  and  with  precipita- 
tion. I  was  assured  that  cannon  were  brought  away,  while 
barrels  of  dollars  were  thrown  down  precipices ;  and  I  wit- 
nessed the  ragged  and  deplorable  condition  of  officers.  One 
day,  going  over  to  my  ship,  there  vras  a  common  sailor,  as  he 
seemed,  most  indecently  ragged,  who  was  going  to  a  transport 
vessel  near  mine.  I  began  joking  with  "  my  lad,"  when  he 
turned  round,  and  I  at  once  perceived  in  the  elegance  of  his 
figure  and  the  dignity  of  his  countenance  that  I  was  address- 
ing one  of  the  young  aristocracy.  He  received  my  apologies 
very  good-humoredly ;  told  me  that  he  had  been  subject  to 
every  privation,  and  that  he  had  on  his  flight  been  thankful 
for  a  crust  of  bread  and  a  pair  of  old  shoes.  On  board  a 
transport  he  had  a  wardrobe  awaiting  him.^ 

As  the  time  of  departure  approached,  the  interest  of 
Lavaggi  in  the  ship  became  known,  and  on  the  11th,  one 

*  In  the  letter  to  the  Times  dated  January  11th,  Mr.  Robinson  says:  "  In 
the  course  of  this  day  the  whole  English  army  has  either  entered  within,  or 
planted  itself  before,  the  Avails  of  this  town.  The  French  army  will  not  fail  to 
be  quick  in  the  pursuit;  and  as  the  transports  which  were  so  anxiously  expect- 
ed from  Vigo  are-stih  out  of  sight,  and,  according  to  the  state  of  the  wind,  not 
likely  soon  to  make  their  appearance,  this  spot  will  most  probably  become  the 
scene  of  a  furious  and  bloody  contest. 

The  late  arrivals  have,  of  course,  made  us  far  better  acquainted  than  we 
possibly  could  be  before  with  the  circumstances  of  this  laborious  and  dis- 
honorable campaign,  which  has  had  all  the  suffering,  without  any  of  the  hon- 
ors of  war.  Without  a  single  general  engagement,  —  having  to  fight  an  enemy 
who  always  shunned  the  contest,  —  it  is  supposed  that  our  army  has  lost  up- 
wards of  3,000  men,  a  larger  number  of  whom  perished  by  the  usual  causes, 
as  well  as  labors  of  a  retreating  soldiery." 

January  12th.  —  An  alarming  symptom  is  the  extreme  scarcity  of  every 
kind  of  provisions.  The  shops  are  shut,  the  markets  are  abandoned.  Per- 
haps the  imperious  wants  of  future  importunate  visitors  are  especially  recol- 
lected. If  the  transports  anive,  there  will  be  abundance  of  every  necessity : 
if  not,  famine  stares  us  in  the  face."  — 


184    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 

of  the  Junta,  Don  Padre  Gil,  came  to  me  in  great  distress, 
imploring  me  to  take  him  on  board.  He  would  die,  he  said, 
rather  than  submit  to  the  French.  I  let  him  come  to  me  a 
second  time,  having  obtained  permission  to  take  him  on  board. 
By  way  of  trial,  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  what  it  was  to  become 
an  exile.  0  yes  ;  I  have  a  brother  in  America  and  friends 
atOadiz."  —  '^But  have  you  supplied  yourself  with  the  means 
of  living  abroad  and  supporting  yourself  on  the  voyage  ] "  — 
0  yes  ;  I  have  plenty  of  chocolate."  The  man  at  last  ac- 
tually went  down  upon  his  knees  to  me.  This  was  irresistible, 
—  I  took  him,  but  did  not  scruple  to  try  his  feelings  ;  for  I 
made  him  in  the  evening  put  on  a  sailor's  jacket,  and  take  a 
portmanteau  on  his  head.  I  could  command  the  sentinels  to 
open  the  gates  of  the  town,  which  he  could  not.  He  went  on 
board,  but  next  day  he  was  fetched  away  by  another  member 
of  the  Junta,  a  priest  named  Garcia,  a  subtle  if  not  an  able 
man.  A  few  weeks  afterwards  I  read  in  the  French  papers  a 
flaming  address  from  the  inhabitants  of  Corunna,  gratefully 
thanking  the  French  General  for  having  emancipated  them 
from  their  oppressors  and  tyrants  the  English,  and  the  very 
first  name  among  the  list  of  subscribers  was  that  of  Padre  Gil. 

It  was  on  the  13th  that  I  took  on  board  Madame  Lavaggi 
and  a  handsome  and  amiable  young  officer,  a  native  of  Amer- 
ica, named  T  ,  a  relation  of  the  Duke  of  Veraguas.  There 

were  on  board  Lavaggi,  Pyecroft,  a  gentleman  named  Pipiela, 
with  his  wife,  servants,  of  course,  and,  as  I  afterwards  learned, 
others  of  whom  I  had  no  knowledge.  Madame  Lavaggi  I 
heard  was  very  ill  during  the  night,  and  next  day  her  hus- 
band gave  orders  that  we  should  return,  in  order  that  she 
might  be  taken  on  shore.  It  was  not  until  afterwards  that  I 
discovered  the  real  cause  of  our  going  back  was  that  Madame 

had  found  out  that  their  young  friend  T  had  smuggled 

on  board  some  one  who  had  no  right  to  be  there ;  she  there- 
fore determined  on  quitting  the  vessel.  I  accompanied  her  to 
her  house,  and  as  we  approached  the  door  a  rich  perfume  of 
cedar-wood  was  apparent,  —  it  proceeded  from  the  burning  of  a 
costly  cabinet  which  she  much  prized.  The  destruction  of 
this  and  other  valuable  articles  of  furniture  had  not  been  pre- 
vented by  the  officers  who  were  left  in  the  house,  and  the  poor 
lady  burst  into  tears  as  she  told  me  that  these  gentlemen  had 
been  most  hospitably  treated  at  her  table.* 

*  Letter  to  the  Times^  Janiiary  15th.  "  The  last  two  days  have  materially 
changed  the  appearance  of  things.   Yesterday  evening,  the  fleet  of  transports, 


1809.] 


THE  BATTLE  OF  CORUNNA. 


185 


I  slept  in  my  old  lodging,  and  the  morning  of  the  16th  I 
spent  in  making  calls  and  in  writing  the  last  letter  to  the 
Times.  The  whole  town  was  in  commotion,  —  the  English 
hurrying  away,  at  least  those  of  them  who  were  not  engaged 
in  protecting  the  embarkation  of  the  others,  —  the  Spaniards 
looking  on  in  a  sort  of  gloomy  anger,  neither  aiding  nor  op- 
posing them.  On  going  to  dine  at  the  hotel,  I  found  the  table- ^ 
d'hote  filled  with  English  officers.  After  a  time,  on  looking 
round  I  saw  that  the  room  was  nearly  empty,  —  not  a  red-coat 
to  be  seen.  On  inquiry  of  the  waiters,  one  said  :  Have  you 
not  heard '?  The  French  are  come  :  they  are  fighting."  *  Hav- 
ing finished  my  dinner,  I  walked  out  of  the  town.  Towns- 
people, stragglers,  were  walking  and  loitering  on  the  high  road 
and  in  the  fields.  We  could  hear  firing  at  a  distance.  Several 
carts  came  in  with  wounded  soldiers.  I  noticed  several  French 
prisoners,  whose  countenances  expressed  rather  rage  and  men- 
aces than  fear.  They  knew  very  well  what  would  take  place. 
I  walked  with  some  acquaintances  a  mile  or  more  out  of  the 
town,  and  remained  there  till  dark,  — long  enough  to  know 
that  the  enemy  was  driven  back  ;  for  the  firing  evidently  came 
from  a  greater  distance.  Having  taken  leave  of  Madame  La- 
vaggi,  whom  I  sincerely  esteemed,  and  of  my  few  acquaintances 
in  the  town,  I  went  on  board,  and  our  vessel  was  judiciously 
stationed  by  the  Captain  out  of  the  harbor,  but  immediately 
on  the  outside.  There  were  numerous  ships  like  ours  sailing 
about  the  bay.  The  Captain  said  to  me  overnight  :  "  You 
may  be  sure  the  French  will  be  here  in  the  morning  ;  I  will 
take  care  to  place  the  vessel  so  that  we  may  have  no  difficulty 
in  making  our  escape."  The  morning  was  fine  and  the  wind 
favorable,  or  our  position  might  have  been  perilous.  Early  in 
the  forenoon  my  attention  was  drawn  to  the  sound  of  musket- 
ry, and  by  a  glance  it  could  be  ascertained  that  the  soldiers 
were  shooting  such  of  their  fine  horses  as  could  not  be  taken 
on  board.    This  was  done,  of  course,  to  prevent  their  strength- 

which  had  been  dispersed  in  tlieir  passage  from  Vigo,  began  to  enter  the  har- 
bor, and  the  hearts  of  thousands  were  relieved  by  the  prospect  of  dehverance. 
I  beheld  this  evening  the  beautiful  bay  covered  with  our  vessels,  both  armed 
and  mercantile,  and  I  should  have  thought  the  noble  three-deckers,  which 
stood  on  the  outside  of  the  harbor,  a  proud  spectacle,  if  I  could  have  forgotten 
the  inglorious  service  they  were  called  to  perform." 

^  This  was  the  celebrated  battle  of  Corunna,  at  which  Sir  John  Moore  was 
killed.  In  IMr.  Eobinson's  memoranda,  written  at  the  time,  he  says  that  the 
cannonading  seemed  to  be  on  the  hills  about  three  miles  from  the^own.  At 
five  o'clock  he  embarked,  and  though  the  vessel  remained  not  far  off  till  the 
18th,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  heard  of  the  death  of  the  Eughsh  commander, 
or  any  particulars  of  the  battle. 


186     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 

ening  the  French  cavalry.  One  very  loud  explosion  brought 
us  all  on  deck.  There  was  on  the  shore  a  large  powder  maga- 
zine, which  had  been  often  the  boundary  of  my  walk.  When 
the  cloud  of  smoke  which  had  been  raised  was  blown  away, 
there  was  empty  space  where  there  had  been  a  solid  building  a 
few  moments  before  ;  but  this  was  a  less  exciting  noise  than 
when,  about  one  o'clock,  we  heard  a  cannonading  from  the 
shore  at  the  inland  extremity  of  the  bay.  It  was  the  French 
army.  They  were  firing  on  ships  which  were  quietly  wait- 
ing for  orders.  I  remarked  the  sudden  movement  in  the  bay, 
—  the  ships  before  lying  at  anchor  were  instantly  in  motion. 
I  myself  noticed  three  vessels  which  had  lost  their  bowsprits. 
The  Captain  told  me  that  twelve  had  cut  their  cables.  We  were 
not  anxious  to  quit  the  spot,  and  therefore  sailed  about  in  the 
vicinity  all  night.  Two  vessels  were  on  fire,  and  next  day  I 
was  shocked  at  beholding  the  remains  of  a  wreck,  and  the  glee 
with  which  our  sailors  tried  to  fish  them  up  as  we  passed. 
Lavaggi  was  very  desirous  to  go  to  Cadiz,  but  the  Captain  sol- 
emnly declared  that  the  ship  was  not  sea-worthy  for  that 
course,  the  wind  being  direct  for  England ;  he  would  not  risk 
our  lives  by  attempting  it.  Of  course,  as  we  could  not  dis- 
prove his  assertion,  we  submitted,  and  proceeded  straight  to 
Falmouth,  which  we  reached  on  the  23d. 

On  my  return  to  London  I  resumed  my  occupation  at  the 
Times  office.  But  a  change  had  taken  place  there;  Collier 
had  transferred  his  services  to  the  Chronicle,  In  the  mean 
while  I  had  less  given  me  to  do,  but  I  did  it  with  cheerful- 
ness, and  soon  renewed  my  old  habits  and  old  acquaintance. 

At  this  time,  too,  I  was  frequent  in  my  calls  on  the  Spanish 
political  agents.  The  names  of  Durango,  Lobo,  and  Abeilla 
appear  in  my  pocket-book.  I  rendered  a  service  to  Southey 
by  making  him  acquainted  with  the  last-named,  who  supphed 
him  with  important  documents  for  his  history  of  the  Spanish 
war. 

On  the  13th  of  July  I  was  invited  to  a  small  party  at  Mrs. 
Buller's.  There  were  not  above  half  a  dozen  gentlemen.  Mrs. 
Buller  told  me,  before  the  arrival  of  Horace  Twiss,  that  some 
of  her  friends  had  heard  of  his  imitations  of  the  great  orators, 
and  that  he  was  to  exhibit.  The  company  being  assembled,  he 
was  requested  to  make  a  speech  in  the  style  of  Mr.  Pitt  or  Mr. 
Fox,  as  he  had  done  at  Lady  Cork's.  Twiss  was  modest,  not 
to  say  bashful,  —  he  could  not  do  such  a  thing  imless  excited  ; 
but  if  Mr.  Mallett  or  Mr.  Robinson  would  *make  a  speech  on 


1809.] 


MR.  WALTER. 


187 


any  subject,  he  would  immediately  reply.  Unfortunately,  both 
Mr.  Mallett  and  Mr.  Robinson  were  modest  too,  and  their 
iliodesty  was  inflexible.  At  length  a  table  being  set  in  the  door- 
way between  the  two  drawing-rooms,  the  orator  was  so  placed 
that  a  profile  or  oblique  view  was  had  of  his  face  in  both 
rooms,  and  he  began  :  Mr.  Speaker  !  "  and  we  had  two  speech- 
es in  succession,  in  imitation  of  Fox  and  Pitt,  —  I  think  on 
the  subject  of  Irish  union,  or  it  might  be  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion. I  have  forgotten  all  but  the  fact  that  the  lady  who  sat 
next  to  me  said,  "  0,  the  advantages  you  gentlemen  have  !  — 
I  never  before  knew  the  power  of  human  oratory, '^^  Human 
oratory  I  will  swear  to. 

On  the  12th  of  August  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Walter, 
informing  me  that  he  had  no  longer  need  of  my  services,  and 
on  the  29th  of  September  I  formally  laid  down  my  oflice  of 
Foreign  Editor  of  the  Times.  I  left  Mr.  Walter  on  very  good 
terms  ;  he  had  a  kindly  feeling  towards  me,  and  his  conduct 
had  been  uniformly  friendly  and  respectful.  He  had  never 
treated  me  as  one  who  received  his  wages,  and  at  his  table  no 
one  could  have  guessed  our  relation  to  each  other.  On  two 
occasions  he  wished  me  to  undertake  duties  which  are  only 
confided  to  trustworthy  friends.  Let  me  here  bear  my  testi- 
mony to  his  character.  He  may  not  have  fixed  his  standard 
at  the  highest  point,  but  he  endeavored  to  conform  to  it. 

This  is  the  proper  place  for  me  to  mention  two  persons  con- 
nected with  the  Times  while  I  wrote  for  it.  The  writer  of  the 
great  leaders  —  the  flash  articles  which  made  a  noise  —  was 
Peter  Fraser,  then  a  Fellow  of  Corpus  Christi,  Cambridge, 
afterwards  Rector  of  Kegwortli,  in  Leicestershire.  He  used 
to  sit  in  Walter's  parlor  and  write  his  articles  after  dinner. 
He  was  never  made  known  as  editor  or  writer,  and  would 
probably  have  thought  it  a  degradation;  but  he  was  prime 
adviser  and  friend,  and  continued  to  write  long  after  I  had 
ceased  to  do  so.  He  was  a  man  of  general  ability,  and  when 
engaged  for  the  Times  was  a  powerful  writer.  The  only  man 
who  in  a  certain  vehemence  of  declamation  equalled  or  per- 
haps surpassed  him,  was  the  author  of  the  papers  signed 
"  Vetus,"  —  that  is  Sterling,  the  father  of  the  younger  Ster- 
ling, the  free-thinking  clergyman,  whose  remains  Julius  Hare 
has  published. 

There  is  another  person  belonging  to  this  period,  who  is  a 
character  certainly  worth  writing  about ;  indeed  I  have  known 
few  to  be  compared  with  him.    It  was  on  my  first  acquaintance 


188     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


with  Walter  that  I  used  to  notice  in  his  parlor  a  remarkably 
fine  old  gentleman.  He  was  tall,  with  a  stately  figure  and 
handsome  face.  He  did  net  appear  to  work  much  with  the 
pen,  but  was  chiefly  a  consulting  man.  When  Walter  was 
away  he  used  to  be  more  at  the  office,  and  to  decide  in  the 
dernier  ressort.  His  name  was  W.  Combe.  It  was  not  till 
after  I  had  left  the  office  that  I  learned  what  I  shall  now 
relate.  At  this  time  and  imtil  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  an 
inhabitant  of  the  King's  Bench  Prison,  and  when  he  came  to 
Printing  House  Square  it  was  only  by  virtue  of  a  day  rule.  I 
believe  that  Walter  offered  to  release  him  from  prison  by  pay- 
ing his  debts.  This  he  would  not  permit,  as  he  did  not  ac- 
knowledge the  equity  of  the  claim  for  which  he  suflJered  im- 
prisonment. He  preferred  living  on  an  allowance  from  Walter, 
and  was,  he  said,  perfectly  happy.  He  used  to  be  attended  by 
a  young  man  who  was  a  sort  of  half-servant,  half-companion. 
Combe  had  been  for  many  years  of  his  life  a  man  of  letters, 
and  wrote  books  anonymously.  Some  of  these  acquired  a  great 
temporary  popularity.  One  at  least,  utterly  worthless,  was 
for  a  time,  by  the  aid  of  prints  as  worthless  as  the  text,  to  be 
seen  everywhere,  —  now  only  in  old  circulating  libraries.  This 
is  "  The  Travels  of  Dr.  Syntax  in  search  of  the  Picturesque." 
It  is  a  long  poem  in  eight-line  verse ;  in  external  form  some- 
thing between  Prior  and  Hudibras,  but  in  merit  with  no  real 
affinity  to  either.  Combe  wrote  novels  ;  one  I  recollect  read- 
ing with  amusement,  — the  ^'  German  Gil  Bias."  He  was  also 
the  author  of  the  famous  "  Letters  of  a  Nobleman  to  his  Son," 
generally  ascribed  to  Lord  Lyttelton.  Amyot  told  me  that 
he  heard  Windham  speak  of  him.  I  shall  always  have  a 
kindness  for  old  Combe,"  said  Windham,  "  for  he  was  the  first 
man  that  ever  praised  me,  and  when  praise  was  therefore  worth 
having."  That  was  in  "Lord  Lyttelton's  Letters."  Combe 
had,  as  I  have  said,  the  exterior  of  a  gentleman.  I  understand 
that  he  was  a  man  of  fortune  when  young,  and  travelled  in 
Europe,  and  even  made  a  journey  with  Sterne ;  that  he  ran 
through  his  fortune,  and  took  to  literature,  when  "  house  and 
land  were  gone  and  spent,"  and  when  his  high  connections 
ceased  to  be  of  service.  Of  these  connections,  and  of  the  adven- 
tures of  his  youth,  he  was  very  fond  of  talking,  and  I  used  to 
enjoy  the  anecdotes  he  told  after  dinner,  until  one  .day,  when 
he  had  been  very  communicative,  and  I  had  sucked  in  all 
he  related  with  greedy  ear,  Fraser  said,  laughing,  to  Walter  : 
^'  Eobinson,  you  see,  is  quite  a  flat ;  he  believes  all  old  Combe 


1809.] 


THE  LONDON  REVIEW. 


189 


says."  —  I  believe  whatever  a  gentleman  says  till  I  have  some 
reason  to  the  contrary." — "Well,  then/'  said  Fraser,  ^' you 
must  believe  nothing  he  says  that  is  about  himself.  What  he 
relates  is  often  true,  except  that  he  makes  himself  the  doer. 
He  gives  us  well-known  anecdotes,  and  only  transfers  the 
action  to  himself."  This,  of  course,  was  a  sad  interruption  to 
my  pleasure.  I  might  otherwise  have  enriched  these  reminis- 
cences with  valuable  facts  about  Sterne,  Johnson,  Garrick, 
Mrs.  Siddons,  and  other  worthies  of  the  last  generation. 

This  infirmity  of  old  Combe  was  quite  notorious.  Amyot 
related  to  me  a  curious  story  which  he  heard  from  Dr.  Parr. 
The  Doctor  was  at  a  large  dinner-party  when  Combe  gave  a 
very  pleasant  and  interesting  account  of  his  building  a  well- 
known  house  on  Keswick  Lake  ;  he  went  very  much  into 
details,  till  at  last  the  patience  of  one  of  the  party  was  ex- 
hausted, and  he  cried  out  :  "  Why,  what  an  impudent  fellow 
you  are  !  You  have  given  a  very  true  and  capital  account  of 
the  house,  and  I  w^onder  how  you  learned  it ;  but  that  house 
was  built  by  my  father ;  it  was  never  out  of  the  family,  and  is 
in  my  own  possession  at  this  moment."  Combe  was  not  in  the 
least  abashed,  but  answered,  with  the  greatest  nonchalance  : 
"  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  doing  justice  to  the  fidelity  of  my 
description  ;  I  have  no  doubt  it  is  your  property,  and  I  hope 
you  will  live  long  to  enjoy  it." 

The  first  occasion  of  my  appearing  in  my  own  name  as  an 
author  was  about  this  time.  Tipper,  who  estimated  my  talents 
as  a  writer  by  my  reputation  as  a  speaker,  solicited  me  to  be- 
come a  collaborateur^  under  Cumberland,  the  well-known  drama- 
tist, in  getting  up  a  new  Eeview,  called  the  London  Revieiv,  of 
which  the  distinguishing  feature  was  to  be  that  each  writer 
should  put  his  name  to  the  article.  I  was  flattered  by  the 
application,  and  readily  consented.  Four  half-crown  quarterly 
numbers  were  published.  I  dined  once  at  Tipper's  with  Cum- 
berland, and  thought  him  a  gentlemanly  amiable  man,  but  did 
not  form  a  high  opinion  of  his  abilities  ]  and  I  thought  the  less 
of  him  because  he  professed  so  much  admiration  of  my  single 
article  as  to  direct  it  to  be  placed  first  in  the  number.  This 
was  a  review  of  the  great  pamphlet  on  the  "  Convention  of 
Cintra,"  by  Wordsworth.  The  only  valuable  portion  of  the 
article  was  a  translation  of  Arndt's  "  Geist  der  Zeit,"  which 
treated  of  the  Spanish  character,  and  predicted  that  the 
Spaniards  would  be  the  first  to  resist  the  tyranny  of  Buona- 
parte. 


190    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  12. 


In  November  I  began  keeping  my  terms  at  Middle  Temple 
Hall,  but  was  unable  to  make  up  my  mind  to  study  the  law 
seriously,  as  I  ought  at  once  to  have  done.  One  of  my  severest 
self-reproaches  is  that  I  did  not,  without  delay,  immediately  be- 
come the  pupil  of  some  pleader.  It  needed  a  special  induce- 
ment for  that ;  and  all  I  did  was  merely  to  keep  a  term.  On 
November  18th  I  ate  my  first  dinner,  having  deposited  my 
£  100  with  the  Treasurer.  I  entered  the  beautiful  hall  with 
an  oppressive  sense  of  shame,  and  wished  to  hide  myself  as  if  I 
were  an  intruder.  I  was  conscious  of  being  too  old  to  com- 
mence the  study  of  law  with  any  probability  of  success.  My 
feelings,  however,  were  much  relieved  by  seeing  William  Quayle 
in  the  hall.  He  very  good-naturedly  found  a  place  for  me  at  his 
mess.  But  this  dining  at  mess  was  so  unpleasant  that,  in  keep- 
ing the  twelve  terms  required,  I  doubt  whether  I  took  a  single 
superfluous  dinner,  although  these  would  only  have  cost  6  d. 
each. 

On  the  23d  of  December  Mr.  Rutt,  his  nephew  George 
Wedd,  and  myself  walked  to  Eoyston.  There  was  a  remark- 
able gradation  of  age  among  us.  We  were  on  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Nash,  who  was  fifteen  years  older  than  Mr.  Eutt,  who  was 
fifteen  years  older  than  myself,  and  I  was  in  my  thirty-fourth 
year,  and  fifteen  years  older  than  George  Wedd.  Mr.  Rutt 
and  I  were  proud  of  our  feat,  —  a  walk  of  thirty-eight  miles  ! 
But  old  Mr.  Wedd,  the  father  ot  George,  was  displeased  with 
his  son.  He  was  a  country  gentleman,  proud  of  his  horses, 
and  conscious  of  being  a  good  rider.  I  was  told  that  he  dis- 
liked me,  and  would  not  invite  me  to  his  house.  I  offered  a 
wager  that  I  would  gain  his  good-will.  After  dinner  we  talked 
of  books ;  Mr.  Wedd  detested  books  and  the  quoters  of  books  ; 
but  I  persisted,  and  praised  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  and 
illustrated  the  beauty  of  his  writing  by  citing  that  wise  and 
fine  saying  of  his,  "A  fine  man  upon  a  fine  horse  is  the  noblest 
object  on  earth  for  God  to  look  down  upon."  Mr.  Wedd  de- 
clared that  he  never  thought  Mr.  Robinson  could  make  him- 
self so  agreeable,  and  I  was  invited  to  his  house. 


1810.] 


GODWIN, 


191 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
1810. 

I REMAINED  all  the  spring  and  summer  in  London,  with 
the  exception  of  making  short  journeys ;  and  spent  my 
time  at  Collier's,  keeping  up  all  my  old  visiting  acquaintance 
and  making  new.  I  became  more  intimate  with  Godwin,  who 
was  keeping  a  bookseller's  shop  in  his  wife's  name.  I  now  and 
then  saw  interesting  persons  at  his  house  ;  indeed,  I  saw  none 
but  remarkable  persons  there.  Among  the  most  remarkable  was 
the  great  Irish  orator,  Curran.  His  talk  was  rich  in  idiom  and 
imagery,  and  in  warnith  of  feeling.  He  was  all  passion,  —  fierce 
in  his  dislikes,  and  not  sparing  in  the  freedom  of  his  language 
even  of  those  with  whom  he  was  on  familiar  terms.  One  even- 
ing, walking  from  Godwin's  house,  he  said  of  a  friend,  "  She  is 
a  pustule  of  vanity."  He  was  not  so  violent  in  his  politics.  The 
short  ministry  of  the  Whigs  had  had  the  good  effect  of  soften- 
ing the  political  prejudices  of  most  of  us,  though  not  of  all  the 
old  Jacobins,  as  is  shown  by  a  speech  made  by  Anne  Plumptre. 
the  translator  of  Kotzebue,  whom  I  met  at  a  dinner-party  at 
Gamaliel  Lloyd's.  She  said  :  "  People  are  talking  about  an  in- 
vasion, —  I  am  not  afraid  of  an  invasion  ;  I  believe  the  country 
would  be  all  the  happier  if  Buonaparte  were  to  effect  a  landing 
and  overturn  the  government.  He  would  destroy  the  Church 
and  the  aristocracy,  and  his  government  would  be  better  than 
the  one  we  have." 

I  amused  myself  this  spring  by  writing  an  account  of  the  in- 
sane poet,  painter,  and  engraver,  Blake.  Perthes  of  Hamburg 
had  written  to  me  asking  me  to  send  him  an  article  for  a  new 
German  magazine,  entitled  Vaterlandische  Annalen,"  which 
he  was  about  to  set  up.  Dr.  Malkin  having  in  the  memoirs  of 
his  son  given  an  account  of  Blake's  extraordinary  genius,  with 
specimens  of  his  poems,  I  resolved  out  of  these  materials  to  com- 
pile a  paper.  This  I  did,  and  it  was  translated  into  German  by 
Dr.  Julius,  who  many  years  afterwards  introduced  himself  to  me 
as  my  translator.  The  article  appears  in  the  single  number  of 
the  second  volume  of  the  "  Vaterlandische  Annalen."  For  it  was 
at  this  time  that  Buonaparte  united  Hamburg  to  the  French  em- 
pire, on  which  Perthes  manfully  gave  up  the  magazine,  saying, 


« 


192     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  IS. 


as  he  had  no  longer  a  ^'  Vaterland,"  there  could  be  no  Vater- 
landische  Annalen."  But  before  I  drew  up  this  paper  I  went  to 
see  a  gallery  of  Blake's  paintings,  which  were  exhibited  by  his 
brother,  a  hosier  in  Carnaby  Market.  The  entrance  fee  was  2  s, 
6  d,  catalogue  included.  I  was  deeply  interested  by  the  cata- 
logue as  well  as  the  pictures.  I  took  four  copies,  telling  the 
brother  I  hoped  he  would  let  me  come  again.  He  said,  ^'  0, 
as  often  as  you  please."  *  I  afterwards  became  acquainted  with 
Blake,  but  will  postpone  what  I  have  to  relate  of  this  extraordi- 
nary character. 

In  the  J une  of  this  year  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Ayrton, 
with  whom  I  was  intimate  for  many  years ;  and  soon  afterwards 
the  name  of  his  friend  Captain  Burney  occurs  in  my  notes.  They 
lived  near  each  other,  in  Little  James  Street,  Pimlico.  I  used 
to  be  invited  to  the  Captain's  whist  parties,  of  which  dear  Lamb 
was  the  chief  ornament.  The  Captain  was  himself  a  character, 
a  fine,  noble  creature,  —  gentle,  w^ith  a  rough  exterior,  as  be- 
came the  associate  of  Captain  Cook  in  his  voyages  round  the 
world,  and  the  literary  historian  of  all  these  acts  of  circum- 
navigation. Here  used  to  be  Hazlitt,  till  he  affronted  the  Cap- 
tain by  severe  criticisms  on  the  works  of  his  sister,  Madame 
B'Arblay.  Another  frequenter  of  these  delightful  whist  par- 
ties was  Hickman,  the  Speaker's  secretary,  and  who  then  invited 
me  to  his  house.  Hickman's  clerk  Phillips  and  others  used 
also  to  be  present. 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  summer  that  my  friend  Mrs. 
Charles  Aikin  invited  me  to  meet  Sergeant  Rough  at  dinner. 
We  became  intimate  at  once.  I  ought  to  have  made  his  ac- 
quaintance before,  for  w^hen  I  was  at  Weimar  in  1805  Miss 
Flaxman,  then  a  governess  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Hare  Naylor, 
gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  him.  His  wife,  a  daughter 
of  John  Wilkes,  was  a  woman  of  some  talents  and  taste,  who 
could  make  herself  attractive. 

During  a  visit  I  made  to  Bury  about  this  time.  Miss  Words- 
worth was  staying  with  the  Clarksons ;  I  brought  her  up  to 
London,  and  left  her  at  the  Lambs'. 

Miss  Wordsworth  to  H.  C.  E. 

Grasmere,  November  6, 1810. 
My  dear  Sir,  —  I  am  very  proud  of  a  commission  which  my 
brother  has  given  me,  as  it  affords  me  an  opportunity  of  express- 

*  This  visit  is  referred  to  in  Gilchrist's  "  Life  of  Blake,''  Vol.  1.  p.  226. 


1810.]  LETTER  FROM  MISS  WORDSWORTH.  193 


ing  the  pleasure  with  which  I  think  of  you,  and  of  our  long  jour- 
ney side  by  side  in  the  pleasant  sunshine,  our  splendid  entrance 
into  the  great  city,  and  our  rambles  together  in  the  crowded 
streets.  I  assure  you  I  am  not  ungrateful  for  even  the  least 
of  your  kind  attentions,  and  shall  be  happy  in  return  to  be 
your  guide  amongst  these  mountains,  where,  if  you  bring  a 
mind  free  from  care,  I  can  promise  you  a  rich  store  of  noble 
enjoyments.  My  brother  and  sister  too  will  be  exceedingly 
happy  to  see  you  ;  and,  if  you  tell  him  stories  from  Spain  of 
enthusiasm,  patriotism,  and  destestation  of  the  usurper,  my 
brother  will  be  a  ready  listener ;  and  in  presence  of  these 
grand  works  of  nature  you  may  feed  each  other's  lofty  hopes. 
We  are  waiting  with  the  utmost  anxiety  for  the  issue  of  that 
battle  which  you  arranged  so  nicely  by  Charles  Lamb's  fireside. 
My  brother  goes  to  seek  the  newspapers  whenever  it  is  possible 
to  get  a  sight  of  one,  and  he  is  almost  out  of  patience  that  the 
tidings  are  delaying  so  long. 

Pray,  as  you  most  likely  see  Charles  at  least  from  time  to 
time,  tell  me  how  they  are  going  on.  There  is  nobody  in  the 
world  out  of  our  own  house  for  whom  I  am  more  deeply  inter- 
ested. You  will,  I  know,  be  happy  that  our  little  ones  are  all 
going  on  well.  The  little  delicate  Catherine,  the  only  one  for 
whom  we  had  any  serious  alarm,  gains  ground  daily.  Yet  it 
will  be  long  before  she  can  be,  or  have  the  appearance  of  being, 
a  stout  child.  There  was  great  joy  in  the  house  at  my  re- 
turn, which  each  showed  in  a  different  way.  They  are  sweet 
wild  creatures,  and  I  think  you  would  love  them  ail.  John  is 
thoughtful  with  his  wildness  j  Dora  alive,  active,  and  quick  ; 
Thomas  innocent  and  simple  as  a  new-born  babe.  John  liad 
no  feeling  but  of  bursting  joy  when  he  saw  me.  Dorothy's 
first  question  was,  "  Where  is  my  doll  ^  "  We  had  delightful 
w^eather  w^hen  T  first  got  home;  but  on  the  first  morning 
Dorothy  roused  me  from  my  sleep  with,  "  It  is  time  to  get  up, 
aunt,  it  is  a  hlasty  morning,  —  it  does  blast  so."  And  the 
next  morning,  not  more  encouraging,  she  said,  It  is  a  hailing 
morning,  —  it  hails  so  hard."    You  must  know  that  our  house 

stands  on  a  hill,  exposed  to  all  hails  and  blasts  

D.  Wordsworth. 

Charles  Lamb  to  H.  C.  E. 

1810. 

Dear  E  :  My  brother,,  whom  you  have  met  at  my 

rooms  (a  plump,  good-looking  man  of  seven-and-forty),  has 

VOL.  I.  9  M 


194    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  OR  ABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  13. 


written  a  book  about  humanity,  which  I  transmit  to  you  here- 
with. Wilson  the  publisher  has  put  it  into  his  head  that  you 
can  get  it  reviewed  for  him.  I  dare  say  it  is  not  in  the  scope 
of  your  Review ;  but  if  you  could  put  it  in  any  likely  train 
he  would  rejoice.  For,  alas !  oiu*  boasted  humanity  partakes 
of  vanity.  As  it  is,  he  teases  me  to  death  with  choosing  to 
suppose  that  I  could  get  it  into  all  the  Reviews  at  a  mo- 
ment's notice.  I  !  !  who  have  been  set  up  as  a  mark  for  therq 
to  throw  at,  and  would  willingly  consign  them  all  to  Megsera's 
snaky  locks. 

But  here 's  the  book,  and  don't  show  it  to  Mrs.  Collier,  for 
I  remember  she  makes  excellent  eel  soup,  and  the  leading 
points  of  the  book  are  directed  against  that  very  process. 

Yours  truly, 

C.  Lamb. 

Miss  Wordsworth  left  London  just  at  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  Madame  Lavaggi,  the  Spanish  lady  of  whom  I  have  already 
spoken.  She  came  to  England  because  the  presence  of  the 
French  rendered  her  own  country  intolerable  to  her.  She  was 
a  high-spirited  patriot  and  also  a  good  Catholic,  but  thorough- 
ly liberal  as  far  as  her  narrow  information  permitted.  The 
only  occasion  on  which  she  showed  any  bigoted  or  ungenerous 
feeling  was  on  my  showing  her  at  the  Tower  of  London  the 
axe  with  which  Anne  Boleyn  was  beheaded.  "  Ah !  que 
j 'adore  cet  instrument !  "  she  exclaimed.  On  my  remonstrat- 
ing with  her,  she  told  me  she  had  been  brought  up  to  con- 
sider Anne  Boleyn  as  one  possessed  by  a  devil ;  that  naughty 
children  were  frightened  by  the  threat  of  being  sent  to  her ; 
and  that  she  was  held  to  be  the  great  cause  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, as  the  seducer  of  the  King,  &c.,  &c.  No  wonder  that 
Romanists  should  so  think,  when  Protestants  have  extensively 
circulated  that  very  foolish  line  ascribed  to  Gray,  — 

*'  When  Gospel  truth  first  beamed  from  Anna's  eyes.** 

Madame  Lavaggi  received  my  correction  of  her  notions  in 
the  very  best  spirit.  She  is  the  one  Spaniard  of  whom  I  think 
with  especial  respect  and  kindness.  We  of  colder  tempera- 
ment and  more  sober  minds  feel  ourselves  oppressed  by  the 
stronger  feelings  of  more  passionate  characters,  —  at  least  this 
is  the  case  with  me.  At  the  same  time  I  fully  recognize  the 
dignity  of  passion,  and  am  able  to  admire  what  I  have  not, 
and  am  not. 


1810.] 


COLERIDGE. 


195 


At  the  end  of  this  year  I  wote  a  few  pages  entirely  devoted 
to  Coleridge.    The  following  is  the  substance  of  them  :  — 

Noveinher  IJ^ili.  —  Saw  Coleridge  for  the  first  time  in 
private,  at  Charles  Lamb's.  A  short  interview,  which  allowed 
of  little  opportunity  for  the  display  of  his  peculiar  powers. 

He  related  to  us  that  Jeffrey,  the  editor  of  the  Edinburgh 
Review^  had  lately  called  on  him,  and  assured  him  that  he 
was  a  great  admirer  of  Wordsworth's  poetry,  that  the  Lyrical 
Ballads  were  always  on  his  table,  and  that  Wordsworth  had 
been  attacked  in  the  Review  simply  because  the  errors  of  men 
of  genius  ought  to  be  exposed.  Towards  me,  Coleridge  added, 
Jeffrey  was  even  flattering.  He  was  like  a  school-boy,  who, 
having  tried  his  man  and  been  thrashed,  becomes  contentedly 
a  fag. 

November  15th,  —  A  very  delightful  evening  at  Charles 
Lamb's  ;  Coleridge,  Morgan,  Mr.  Burney,  &c.,  there.  Coler- 
idge very  eloquent  on  German  metaphysics  and  poetry, 
Wordsworth,  and  Spanish  politics. 

Of  Wordsworth  he  spoke  with  great  warmth  of  praise,  but 
objected  to  some  of  his  poems.  Wishing  to  avoid  an  undue 
regard  to  the  high  and  genteel  in  society,  Wordsworth  had  un- 
reasonably attached  himself  to  the  low,  so  that  he  himself 
erred  at  last.  He  should  have  recollected  that  verse  being 
the  language  of  passion,  and  passion  dictating  energetic  ex- 
pressions, it  became  him  to  make  his  subjects  and  style  accord. 
One  asks  why  tales  so  simple  were  not  in  prose.  With  ^'  mal- 
ice prepense "  he  fixes  on  objects  of  reflection,  which  do  not 
naturally  excite  it.  Coleridge  censured  the  disproportion  in 
the  machinery  of  the  poem  on  the  Gypsies.  Had  the  whole 
world  been  standing  idle,  more  powerful  arguments  to  expose 
the  evil  could  not  have  been  brought  forward.  Of  Kant  he  spoke 
in  terms  of  high  admiration.  In  his  "  Himmel's  System  "  he  ap- 
peared to  unite  the  genius  of  Burnet  .and  Newton.  He  praised 
also  the  "  Traume  eines  Geistersehers,"  and  intimated  that  he 
should  one  day  translate  the  work  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful. 
The  *^  Kritik  der  Urtheilskraft "  he  considered  the  most  aston- 
ishing of  Kant's  works.  Both  Fichte  and  Schelling  he  thought 
would  be  found  at  last  to  have  erred  where  they  deviated  from 
Kant ;  but  he  considered  Fichte  a  great  logician,  and  Schelling 
perhaps  a  still  greater  man.  In  both  he  thought  the  want  of 
gratitude  towards  their  master  a  sign  of  the  absence  of  the 
highest  excellence.  Schelling's  system  resolves  itself  into  fa- 
naticism, not  better  than  that  of  Jacob  Boehme.  Coleridge 


196     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  13. 

had  known  Tieck  at  Eome,  but  was  not  aware  of  his  eminence 
as  a  poet.  He  conceded  to  Goethe  universal  talent,  but  felt  a 
want  of  moral  life  to  be  the  defect  of  his  poetry.  Schiller  he 
spoke  more  kindly  of.  He  quoted  Nimmer,  das  glaubt  mir, 
erscheinen  die  Gotter,  nimmer  allein."  *  (He  has  since  trans- 
lated it.)  Of  Jean  Paul  he  said  that  his  wit  consisted  not  in 
pointing  out  analogies  in  themselves  striking,  but  in  finding 
unexpected  analogies.  You  admire,  not  the  things  combined, 
but  the  act  of  combination.  He  aj^plied  this  also  to  Windham. 
But  is  not  this  the  character  of  all  wit  1  That  which  he  con- 
trasted with  it  as  a  different  kind  of  wit  is  in  reality  not  wit, 
but  acuteness.  He  made  an  elaborate  distinction  between 
fancy  and  imagination.  The  excess  of  fancy  is  delirium,  of 
imagination  mania.  Fancy  is  the  arbitrarily  bringing  together 
of  things  that  lie  remote,  and  forming  them  into  a  unity.  The 
materials  lie  ready  for  the  fancy,  which  acts  by  a  sort  of  jux- 
taposition. On  the  other  hand,  the  imagination  under  excite- 
ment generates  and  produces  a  form  of  its  own.  The  "  seas  of 
milk  and  ships  of  amber  "  he  quoted  as  fanciful  delirium.  He 
related,  as  a  sort  of  disease  of  imagination,  what  occurred  to 
himself  He  had  been  watching  intently  the  motions  of  a 
kite  among  the  moimtains  of  Westmoreland,  when  on  a  sud- 
den he  saw  two  kites  in  an  opposite  direction.  This  delusion 
lasted  some  time.  At  last  he  discovered  that  the  two  kites 
were  the  fluttering  branches  of  a  tree  beyond  a  wall. 

November  18th.  —  At  Godwin's  with  Northcote,  Coleridge, 
&c.  Coleridge  made  himself  very  merry  at  the  expense  of  Fuseli, 
whom  he  always  called  Fuzzle  or  Fuzly.  He  told  a  story  of  Fu- 
seli's  being  on  a  visit  at  Liverpool  at  a  time  when  unfortunate- 
ly he  had  to  divide  the  attention  of  the  public  with  a  Prussian 
soldier,  who  had  excited  a  great  deal  of  notice  by  his  enormous 
powers  of  eating.  And  the  annoyance  was  aggravated  by  per- 
sons persisting  in  considering  the  soldier  as  Fuseli's  country- 
man. He  spent  his  last  evening  at  Dr.  Crompton's,t  w^hen 
Eoscoe  (whose  visitor  Fuseli  was)  took  an  opportunity  of  giv- 
ing a  hint  to  the  party  that  no  one  should  mention  the 
glutton.  The  admonition  unfortunately  was  not  heard  by  a 
lady,  who,  turning  to  the  great  Academician  and  lecturer,  said  : 

Well,  sir,  your  countryman  has  been  surpassing  himself !  " — ■ 
"  Madame,"  growled  the  irritated  painter,  "  the  fellow  is  no 

*  "  Never  alone,  believe  me,  do  the  Gods  appear."  This  poem  is  entitled 
"  Dithyrambe  "  in  the  twelve-volume  edition  of  Schiller's  wo^ks,  1838.  Vol.  I. 
p.  240. 

t  The  father  of  Judge  Crompton. 


1810.] 


COLEKIDGE  ON  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS. 


197 


countryman  of  mine." — He  is  a  foreigner!  Have  you  not 
heard  what  he  has  been  doing  1    He  has  eaten  a  live  cat !  "  — 

A  Uve  cat !  "  every  one  exclaimed,  except  Fuseli,  whose  rage 
was  excited  by  the  suggestion  of  a  lady  famous  for  her  blun- 
ders, Dear  me,  Mr.  Fuseli,  that  would  be  ^  fine  subject  for 
your  pencil."  —  "  My  pencil,  madam  V  —  To  be  sure,  sir,  as 
the  horrible  is  your  forte." —  "  You  mean  the  terrible,  madam," 
he  replied,  with  an  assumed  composure,  muttering  at  the  same 
time  between  his  teeth,  "  if  a  silly  woman  can  mean  anything." 

December  20th,  —  Met  Coleridge  by  accident  with  Charles 
and  Mary  Lamb.  As  I  entered  he  was  apparently  speaking  of 
Christianity,  He  went  on  to  say  that  miracles  are  not  an  es- 
sential in  the  Christian  system.  He  insisted  that  they  were 
not  brought  forward  as  proofs ;  that  they  were  acknowledged 
to  have  been  performed  by  others  as  well  as  the  true  believers. 
Pharaoh's  magicians  wrought  miracles,  though  those  of  Moses 
were  more  powerful.  In  the  New  Testament,  the  appeal  is 
made  to  the  knowledge  which  the  believer  has  of  the  truths  of 
his  religion,  not  to  the  wonders  wrought  to  make  him  believe. 
Of  Jesus  Christ  he  asserted  that  he  was  a  Platonic  philosopher. 
And  when  Christ  spoke  of  his  identity  with  the  Father,  he 
spoke  in  a  Spinozistic  or  Pantheistic  sense,  according  to  which 
he  could  truly  say  that  his  transcendental  sense  was  one  with 
God,  while  his  empirical  sense  retained  its  finite  nature.  On 
my  making  the  remark  that  in  a  certain  sense  every  one  who 
utters  a  truth  may  be  said  to  be  inspired,  Coleridge  assented, 
and  afterwards  named  Fox  and  others  among  the  Quakers, 
Madame  Guyon,  St.  Theresa,  &c.,  as  being  also  inspired. 

On  my  suggesting,  in  the  form  of  a  question,  that  an  eternal 
absolute  truth,  like  those  of  religion,  could  not  be  proved  by  an 
accidental  fact  in  history,  he  at  once  assented,  and  declared  it 
to  be  not  advisable  to  ground  the  belief  in  Christianity  on  his- 
torical evidence.  He  went  so  far  as  to  affirm  that  religious 
belief  is  an  act,  not  of  the  understanding,  but  of  the  will.  To 
become  a  believer,  one  must  love  the  doctrine,  and  feel  in  har- 
mony with  it,  and  not  sit  down  coolly  to  inquire  whether  he 
should  believe  it  or  not. 

Notwithstanding  the  sceptical  tendency  of  such  Opinions, 
Coleridge  added,  that  accepting  Christianity  as  he  did  in  its 
spirit  in  conformity  with  his  own  philosophy,  he  was  content 
for  the  sake  of  its  divine  truths  to  receive  as  articles  of  faith, 
or,  perhaps  I  ought  to  say,  leave  undisputed,  the  miracles  of  the 
New  Testament,  taken  in  their  literal  sense. 


198     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  13. 

In  writing  this  I  am  reminded  of  one  of  the  famous  sayings 
of  Pascal,  which  Jacobi  quotes  repeatedly  :  "  The  things  that 
belong  to  men  must  be  understood  in  order  that  they  may  be 
loved  ;  the  things  that  belong  to  God  must  be  loved  in  order 
to  be  understood." 

Coleridge  warmly  praised  Spinoza,  Jacobi  on  Spinoza,  and 
Schiller  Ueber  die  Sendung  Moses,"  &c.  And  he  concurred 
with  me  in  thinking  the  main  fault  of  Spinoza  to  be  his  at- 
tempting to  reduce  to  demonstration  that  which  must  be  an 
object  of  faith.  He  did  not  agree  with  Charles  Lamb  in  his 
admiration  of  those  playful  and  delightful  plays  of  Shake- 
speare, "  Love's  Labor's  Lost "  and  the  "  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream  "  ;  but  both  affirmed  that  not  a  line  of  Titus  Andron- 
icus  "  could  have  been  from  Shakespeare's  pen. 

December  23d,  —  Coleridge  dined  with  the  Colliers,  talked  a 
vast  deal,  and  delighted  every  one.  Politics,  Kantian  philos- 
ophy, and  Shakespeare  successively,  —  and  at  last  a  playful 
exposure  of  some  bad  poets.  His  remarks  on  Shakespeare 
were  singularly  ingenious.  Shakespeare,  he  said,  delighted  in 
portraying  characters  in  which  the  intellectual  powers  are 
found  in  a  pre-eminent  degree,  while  the  moral  faculties  are 
wanting,  at  the  same  time  that  he  taught  the  superiority  of 
moral  greatness.  Such  is  the  contrast  exhibited  in  lago  and 
Othello.  lago's  most  marked  feature  is  his  delight  in  govern- 
ing by  fraud  and  superior  understanding  the  noble-minded  and 
generous  Moor.  In  Richard  III.  cruelty  is  less  the  prominent 
trait  than  pride,  to  which  a  sense  of  personal  deformity  gave  a 
deadly  venom.  Coleridge,  however,  asserted  his  belief  that 
Shakespeare  wrote  hardly  anything  of  this  play  except  the 
character  of  Richard  :  he  found  the  piece  a  stock  play  and  re- 
wrote the  parts  which  developed  the  hero's  character :  he  cer- 
tainly did  not  write  the  scenes  in  which  Lady  Anne  yielded  to 
the  usurper's  solicitations.  He  considered  Pericles"  as  illus- 
trating the  way  in  which  Shakespeare  handled  a  piece  he  had  to 
refit  for  representation.  At  first  he  proceeded  with  indifference, 
only  now  and  then  troubling  himself  to  put  in  a  thought  or 
an  image,  but  as  he  advanced  he  interested  himself  in  his 
employment,  and  the  last  two  acts  are  almost  entirely  by 
him. 

Hamlet  he  considered  in  a  point  of  view  which  seems  to 
agree  very  well  with  the  representation  given  in  Wilhelm 
Meister."  Hamlet  is  a  man  whose  ideal  and  internal  images 
are  so  vivid  that  all  real  objects  are  faint  and  dead  to  him. 


1810.] 


COLERIDGE  ON  VARIOUS  SUBJECTS 


199 


This  we  see  in  his  soliloquies  on  the  nature  of  man  and  his 
disregard  of  life  :  hence  also  his  vacillation,  and  the  purely 
convulsive  energies  he  displayed.  He  acts  only  by  fits  and 
snatches.  He  manifests  a  strong  inclination  to  suicide.  On  my 
observing  that  it  appeared  strange  Shakespeare  did  not  make 
suicide  the  termination  of  his  piece,  Coleridge  replied  that 
Shakespeare  wished  to  show  how  even  such  a  character  is  at  last 
obliged  to  be  the  sport  of  chance,  —  a  salutary  moral  doctrine. 

But  I  thought  this  the  suggestion  of  the  moment  only,  and 
not  a  happy  one,  to  obviate  a  seeming  objection.  Hamlet  re- 
mains at  last  the  helpless,  unpractical  being,  though  every  in- 
ducement to  activity  is  given  which  the  very  appearance  of  the 
spirit  of  his  murdered  father  could  bring  with  it. 

Coleridge  also  considered  Falstaff  as  an  instance  of  the  pre- 
dominance of  intellectual  power.  He  is  content  to  be  thought 
both  a  liar  and  a  coward  in  order  to  obtain  influence  over  the 
minds  of  his  associates.  His  aggravated  lies  about  the  robbery 
are  conscious  and  purposed,  not  inadvertent  untruths.  On 
my  observing  that  this  account  seemed  to  justify  Cooke's  rep- 
resentation, according  to  which  a  foreigner  imperfectly  under- 
standing the  character  would  fancy  Falstaff  the  designing  knave 
who  does  actually  outwit  the  Prince,  Coleridge  answered  that,  in 
his  own  estimation,  Falstaff  is  the  superior,  who  cannot  easily  be 
convinced  that  the  Prince  has  escaped  him ;  but  that,  as  in  other 
instances,  Shakespeare  has  shown  us  the  defeat  of  mere  intel- 
lect by  a  noble  feeling ;  the  Prince  being  the  superior  moral 
character,  who  rises  above  his  insidious  companion. 

On  my  noticing  Hume's  obvious  preference  of  the  Freneh 
tragedians  to  Shakespeare,  Coleridge  exclaimed  :  "  Hume  com- 
prehended as  much  of  Shakespeare  as  an  apothecary's  phial 
would,  placed  imder  the  falls  of  Niagara." 

We  spoke  of  Milton.  He  was,  said  Coleridge,  a  most  deter- 
mined aristocrat,  an  enemy  to  popular  elections,  and  he  would 
have  been  most  decidedly  hostile  to  the  Jacobins  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  He  would  have  thought  our  popular  freedom  exces- 
sive. He  was  of  opinion  that  the  government  belonged  to  the 
wise,  and  he  thought  the  people  fools.  In  all  his  works  there 
is  but  one  exceptionable  passage,  —  that  in  which  he  vindicates 
the  expulsion  of  the  members  from  the  House  of  Commons  by 
Cromwell.  Coleridge  on  this  took  occasion  to  express  his  ap- 
probation of  the  death  of  Charles. 

Of  Milton's  Paradise  Regained,"  he  observed  that  however 
inferior  its  kind  is  to    Paradise  Lost,"  its  execution  is  superior. 


200     RExAIINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  13. 

This  was  all  Milton  meant  in  the  preference  he  is  said  to  have 
given  to  his  later  poem.  It  is  a  didactic  poem,  and  formed  on 
the  model  of  Job. 

Coleridge  remarked  on  the  lesson  of  tolerance  taught 
US  by  the  opposite  opinions  entertained  concerning  the 
death  of  Charles  by  such  great  men  as  Milton  and  Jeremy 
Taylor. 

Jeremy  Taylor's  Holy  Dying,"  he  affirmed,  is  a  perfect 
poem,  and  in  all  its  particulars,  even  the  rhythm,  maybe  com- 
pared with  Young's  ^'  Night  Thoughts."  In  the  course  of  his 
metaphysical  conversation,  Coleridge  remarked  on  Hartley's 
theory  of  association.  This  doctrine  is  as  old  as  Aristotle,  and 
Hartley  himself,  after  publishing  his  system,  when  he  wrote 
his  second  volume  on  religion,  built  his  proofs,  not  on  the 
maxims  of  his  first  volume,  which  he  had  already  learnt  to 
appreciate  better,  but  on  the  principles  of  other  schools.  Col- 
eridge quoted  (I  forget  from  whom)  a  description  of  association 
as  the  "  law  of  our  imagination."  Thought,  he  observed,  is  a 
laborious  breaking  through  the  law  of  association  ;  the  natural 
train  of  fancy  is  violently  repressed ;  the  free  yielding  to  its 
power  produces  dreaming  or  delirium.  The  great  absurdity 
committed  by  those  who  would  build  everything  on  association 
is  that  they  forget  the  things  associated  :  these  are  left  out  of 
the  account. 

Of  Locke  he  spoke,  as  usual,  with  great  contempt,  that  is, 
in  reference  to  his  metaphysical  work.  He  considered  him  as 
having  led  to  the  destruction  of  metaphysical  science,  by  en- 
couraging the  unlearned  public  to  think  that  with  mere  com- 
mon sense  they  might  dispense  with  disciplined  study.  He 
praised  Stillingfleet  as  Locke's  opponent ;  and  he  ascribed 
Locke's  popularity  to  his  political  character,  being  the  advocate 
of  the  new  against  the  old  dynasty,  to  his  religious  character 
as  a  Christian,  though  but  an  Arian,  —  for  both  parties,  the 
Christians  against  the  sceptics,  and  the  liberally  minded  against 
the  orthodox,  were  glad  to  raise  his  reputation ;  and  to  the 
nationality  of  the  i3eople,  who  considered  him  and  Newton  as 
the  adversaries  of  the  German  Leibnitz.  Voltaire,  to  depress 
Leibnitz,  raised  Locke. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  T.  R. 

"  Coleridge  kept  me  on  the  stretch  of  attention  and  admira- 
tion from  half  past  three  till  twelve  o'clock.    On  politics, 


1810.] 


FLAXMAN. 


201 


metaphysics,  and  poetry,  more  especially  on  the  Regency,  Kant, 
and  Shakespeare,  he  was  astonishingly  eloquent.  But  I  can- 
not help  remarking  that,  although  he  practises  all  sorts  of  de- 
lightful tricks,  and  shows  admirable  skill  in  riding  his  hobby, 
yet  he  may  be  easily  unsaddled.  I  was  surprised  to  find  how 
one  may  obtain  from  him  concessions  which  lead  to  gross  in- 
consistencies. Though  an  incomparable  declaimer  and  speech- 
maker,  he  has  neither  the  readiness  nor  the  acuteness  required 
by  a  colloquial  disputant ;  so  that,  with  a  sense  of  inferiority 
which  makes  me  feel  humble  in  his  presence,  I  do  not  feel  in 
the  least  afraid  of  him.  Rough  said  yesterday,  that  he  is  sure 
Coleridge  would  never  have  succeeded  at  the  bar  even  as  a 
speaker." 

This  I  wrote  when  I  knew  little  of  him  ;  I  used  afterwards 
to  compare  him  as  a  disputant  to  a  serpent  ?  —  easy  to  kill,  if 
you  assume  the  offensive,  but  if  you  let  him  attack,  his  bite  is 
mortal.  Some  years  after  this,  when  I  saw  Madame  de  Stael 
in  London,  I  asked  her  what  she  thought  of  him  :  she  replied, 
He  is  very  great  in  monologue,  but  he  has  no  idea  of  dia- 
logue." This  I  repeated,  and  it  appeared  in  the  Quarterly 
Review. 

It  was  at  the  very  close  of  the  year  that  I  made  an  acquaint- 
ance which  afforded  me  unqualified  satisfaction,  except  as  all 
enjoyments  that  are  transient  are  followed  by  sorrow  when 
they  are  terminated.  This  new  acquaintance  was  the  great 
sculptor,  John  Flaxman. 

Having  learned  from  Rough  that  my  German  acquaintance, 
Miss  Flaxman,  had  returned,  and  was  living  with  her  brother, 
I  called  on  her  to  make  my  apologies  for  neglecting  to  deliver 
my  letter  to  Rough.  She  received  them,  not  with  undignified 
mdifference,  but  with  great  good-nature.  On  this  occasion  I 
was  introduced  to  Mrs.  Flaxman,  a  shrewd  lively  talkative 
woman,  and  received  an  invitation  to  spend  the  last  night  of 
the  year  with  them.  The  whole  day  was  interesting.  I  find 
from  my  pocket-book  that  I  translated  in  the  forenoon  a 
portion  of  Goethe's  "  Sammler  und  die  Seinigen,"  which  I  nev- 
er Glided,  because  I  could  not  invent  English  comic  words  to 
express  the  abuses  arising  from  one-sidedness  in  the  several 
schools  of  painting.  In  the  afternoon  I  sat  with  Mrs.  Barbauld, 
still  in  all  the  beauty  of  her  fine  taste,  correct  understanding, 
as  well  as  pure  integrity  ;  and,  in  the  evening,  I  was  one  of  a 
merry  party  at  Flaxman's.  But  this  evening  I  saw  merely  the 
9^ 


202     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  13. 


good-humored,  even  frolicsome,  kind-hearted  man.  Every 
sportive  word  and  action  of  Flaxman's  was  enhanced  by  his 
grotesque  figure.  He  had  an  intelligent  and  benignant  counte- 
nance, but  he  was  short  and  humpbacked,  so  that  in  his 
laughter  it  often  seemed  as  if  he  were  mocking  himself. 
There  were  the  Eoughs  and  a  few  others,  enough  to  fill 
two  very  small  rooms  (No,  7  Buckingham  Street,  which  Flax- 
man  bought  when  he  settled  in  London  on  his  return  from 
Italy,  and  in  which  he  died).  He  introduced  to  me  a  lively, 
rather  short,  and  stout  girl,  whom  he  called  his  daughter 
Ellen."  I  took  him  literally,  and  said  I  thought  he  had  no 
child.  "  Only  in  one  way  she  is  my  daughter.  Her  other 
father,  >there,  is  Mr.  Porden,  the  architect."  This  same  Ellen 
Porden  became  ultimately  the  wife  of  Captain  Franklin,  the 
North  Pole  voyager. 

It  was  also  in  this  year  that  I  became  acquainted  with  Man- 
ning,* then  a  special  pleader,  now,  perhaps,  the  most  learned 
man  at  the  bar,  sergeant  or  barrister.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
well-known  Arian  divine  at  Exeter,  and  he  has  had  the  manli- 
ness and  integrity  never  to  be  ashamed  of  Dissent. 

I  ought  not  to  omit  the  circumstance  that  I  kept  four  terms 
this  year. 

H.  C.  K.  TO  Miss  Wordsworth. 

56  Hatton  Garden,  December  23, 1810. 

My  dear  Madam  :  — 

....  I  have  postponed  answering  your  acceptable  letter  till 
I  could  speak  to  you  concerning  our  common  friends,  the 
Lambs. 

Mary,  I  am  glad  to  say,  is  just  now  very  comfortable.  But 
I  hear  she  has  been  in  a  feeble  and  tottering  condition.  She 
has  put  herself  under  Dr.  Tuthill,  who  has  prescribed  water, 
Charles,  in  consequence,  resolved  to  accommodate  himself  to 
her,  and  since  lord-mayor's  day  has  abstained  from  all  other 
liquor,  as  well  as  from  smoking.  We  shall  all  rejoice,  indeed, 
if  this  experiment  succeeds. 

Who  knows  but  that  this  promising  resolution  may  have 
been  strengthened  by  the  presence  of  Coleridge  ?  I  have  spent 
several  evenings  with  your  friend.    I  say  a  great  deal  when  I 

*  The  Queen's  Ancient  Sergeant,  who  died  in  1866. 

In  early  life  Manning  devoted  himself  for  a  year  and  a  half  to  agriculture. 
Afterwards  he  went  to  Germany  for  a  year,  to  learn  the  language,  in  order  to 
fit  himself  for  mercantile  pursuits.  Finally  he  fixed  on  the  law  as  a  profes- 
sion. 


1810.] 


LETTER  TO  MISS  WORDSWOKTH. 


203 


declare  that  he  has  not  sunk  below  my  expectations,  for  they 
were  never  raised  so  before  by  the  fame  of  any  man.  He  ap- 
pears to  be  quite  well,  and  if  the  admiration  he  excites  in  me 
be  mingled  with  any  sentiments  of  compassion,  this  latter  feel- 
ing proceeds  rather  from  what  I  have  heard,  than  from  what  I 
have  seen.  He  has  more  eloquence  than  any  man  I  ever  saw, 
except  perhaps  Curran,  the  Irish  orator,  w^ho  possesses  in  a 
very  high  degree  the  only  excellence  which  Coleridge  wants  to 
be  a  perfect  parlor  orator,  viz.  short  sentences.  Coleridge 
cannot  co?^verse.  He  addresses  himself  to  his  hearers.  At 
the  same  time,  he  is  a  much  better  listener  than  I  expected. 

Your  kind  invitation  to  the  Lakes  is  most  welcome.  If  I  do 
not  embrace  the  offer,  be  assured  it  is  not  from  want  of  a 
strong  desire  to  do  so.  I  wish  for  no  journey  so  much,  except, 
indeed,  another  voyage  to  Spain.  My  admiration,  my  love, 
and  anxious  care  continue  to  be  fixed  on  that  country  ;  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  if  my  hopes  are  not  so  lofty  as  those  your 
brother  cherishes,  it  is  only  because  I  am  myself  not  so  lofty. 

Coleridge  spent  an  afternoon  with  us  on  Sunday.  He  was 
delightful.  Charles  Lamb  was  unwell,  and  could  not  join  us. 
His  change  of  habit,  though  it  on  the  whole  improves  his 
health,  yet  when  he  is  low-spirited  leaves  him  without  a  remedy 
or  relief. 

To  Mr.  Wordsworth  my  best  remembrances.  We  want 
unprofaned  and  unprostituted  words  to  express  the  kind  of 
feeling  I  entertain  towards  him. 

Believe  me,  &c.,  &c., 

H.  C.  R. 

P.  S.  —  I  was  interested  in  your  account  of  the  children,  and 
their  reception  of  you  ;  but  it  is  not  only  mountain  children 
that  make  verbs.  I  heard  an  Essex  child  of  seven  say  lately, 
in  delight  at  a  fierce  torrent  of  rain,  "  How  it  is  storming  !  " 
The  same  boy  had  just  before  said,  "  I  love  to  see  it  roaring 
and  pouring."  I  have  more  than  once  remarked  the  elements 
of  poetic  sense  in  him. 


204    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1811. 

THIS  year  I  began  to  keep  a  Diary.  This  relieves  me 
from  one  difficulty,  but  raises  another.  Hitherto  I  have 
had  some  trouble  in  bringing  back  to  my  memory  the  most 
material  incidents  in  the  proper  order.  It  was  a  labor  of  col- 
lection. Now  I  have  to  select.  When  looking  at  a  diary, 
there  seems  to  be  too  little  distinction  between  the  insignifi- 
cant and  the  important,  and  one  is  reminded  of  the  proverb, 
*^  The  wood  cannot  be  seen  for  the  trees."  * 

January/  8th. —  Spent  part  of  the  evening  with  Charles  Lamb 
(unwell)  and  his  sister.  He  had  just  read  the  "  Curse  of  Ke- 
hama,"  which  he  said  he  liked  better  than  any  of  Southey's 
long  poems.  The  descriptions  he  thought  beautiful,  particu- 
larly the  finding  of  Kailyal  by  Ereenia.  He  liked  the  opening, 
and  part  of  the  description  of  hell ;  but,  after  all,  he  was  not 
made  happier  by  reading  the  poem.  There  is  too  much  trick 
in  it.  The  three  statues  and  the  vacant  space  for  Kehama 
resemble  a  pantomime  scene  ;  and  the  love  is  ill  managed.  On 
the  whole,  however,  Charles  Lamb  thinks  the  poem  infinitely 
superior  to  ^*  Thalaba." 

We  spoke  of  W^ordsworth  and  Coleridge.  To  my  surprise, 
Lamb  asserted  the  latter  to  be  the  greater  man.  He  preferred 
the  Ancient  Mariner  "  to  anything  Wordsworth  had  written. 
He  thought  the  latter  too  apt  to  force  his  own  individual  feel- 
ings on  the  reader,  instead  of,  like  Shakespeare,  entering  fully 
into  the  feelings  of  others.  This,  I  observed,  is  very  much 
owing  to  the  lyrical  character  of  Wordsworth's  poems.  And 
Lamb  concluded  by  expressing  high  admiration  of  Wordsworth, 
and  especially  of  the  Sonnets.  He  also  spoke  of  "  Hart-leap 
Well "  as  exquisite. 

Some  one,  speaking  of  Shakespeare,  mentioned  his  anachro- 
nism in  which  Hector  speaks  of  Aristotle.    "  That 's  what 
Johnson  referred  to,"  said  Lamb,  "  when  he  wrote,  — 
*And  panting  Time  toils  after  him  in  vain! '  " 

*  Henceforward  selections  will  be  given  from  the  Diary,  with  additions  from 
the  Reminiscences.  These  additions  will  be  marked  [/?em.],  and  the  year  in 
which  they  were  written  will  be  stated  at  the  foot  of  the  page. 


1811.] 


COVENT  GARDEN  THEATRE. 


205 


January  17th.  —  In  the  evening  a  call  at  Flaxman's.  Read 
to  Mrs.  Flaxman  a  part  of  Sclilcgel's  "  Critique  on  the  Designs 
for  Dante,"  which  of  course  gratified  her.  She  told  me  they 
were  done  in  Italy  for  Mr.  Hope,  on  very  moderate  terms, 
merely  to  give  Flaxman  employment  for  the  evening.  Fuseli, 
when  he  saw  them,  said,  "  I  used  to  think  myself  the  best 
composer,  but  now  I  own  Flaxman  to  be  the  greater  man." 
Some  years  ago,  when  I  met  Flaxman  at  Mrs.  Irenionger's,  I 
mentioned  Schlegel's  praise  of  him  for  his  preference  of  Dante 
to  Milton.  It  was,  said  Schlegel,  a  proof  that  he  surpassed 
his  countrymen  in  taste.  Flaxman  said  he  could  not  accept 
the  compliment  on  the  ground  of  preference.  He  thought 
Milton  the  very  greatest  of  poets,  and  he  could  not  forgive 
Charles  James  Fox  for  not  liking  him.  He  had  three  reasons 
for  choosing  Dante.  First,  he  was  unwilling  to  interfere  with 
Fuseli,  who  had  made  choice  of  Milton  for  his  designs.  Sec- 
ond, Milton  supplies  few  figures,  while  Dante  abounds  in  them. 
And,  third,  he  had  heard  that  Michael  Angelo  had  made  a 
number  of  designs  in  the  margin  of  a  copy  of  Dante. 

Mrs.  Flaxman  said,  this  evening,  that  the  common  cloak  of 
the  lower  classes  in  Italy  suggested  the  drapery  for  Virgil  and 
Dante.  While  we  were  talking  on  this  subject  Flaxman  came 
in.  He  spoke  with  great  modesty  of  his  designs ;  he  could 
do  better  now,  and  wished  the  Germans  had  something  better 
on  which  to  exercise  their  critical  talents. 

January  10th,  —  With  Collier,  &c.,  at  Covent  Garden. 
"  Twelfth  Night,"  —  Listen's  Malvolio  excellent.  I  never  saw 
him  to  greater  advantage.  It  is  a  character  in  all  respects 
adapted  to  him.  His  inimitable  gravity  till  he  receives  the 
letter,  and  his  incomparable  smiles  in  the  cross-gartered  scene, 
are  the  perfection  of  nature  and  art  united. 

January  29th.  —  I  walked  with  Coleridge  to  Rickman's,  where 
we  dined.  He  talked  on  Shakespeare,  particularly  his  Fools. 
These  he  regarded  as  supplying  the  place  of  the  ancient  cho- 
rus. The  ancient  drama,  he  observed,  is  distinguished  from 
the  Shakespearian  in  this,  that  it  exhibits  a  sort  of  abstraction, 
not  of  character,  but  of  idea.  A  certain  sentiment  or  passion 
is  exhibited  in  all  its  purity,  unmixed  with  anything  that  could 
interfere  with  its  effect.  Shakespeare,  on  the  other  hand,  im- 
itates life,  mingled  as  we  find  it  with  joy  and  sorrow.  We 
meet  constantly  in  life  with  persons  who  are,  as  it  were,  un- 
feeling spectators  of  the  most  passionate  situations.  The  Fool 
serves  to  supply  the  place  of  some  such  uninterested  person, 


206     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


where  all  the  other  characters  are  interested.  The  most  gen- 
uine and  real  of  Shakespeare's  Fools  is  in  "  Lear."  In  "  Ham- 
let "  the  fool  is,  as  it  were,  divided  into  several  parts,  dispersed 
through  the  play. 

On  our  walk  back  Coleridge  spoke  warmly  and  eloquently  on 
the  effect  of  laws  in  the  formation  of  moral  character  and  feel- 
ing in  a  people.  He  differed  from  Bentham's  censure  of  the 
laws  of  usury,  Coleridge  contending  that  those  laws,  by 
exciting  a  general  contempt  towards  usurers,  had  a  deterring 
effect  on  many.  Genoa  fell  by  becoming  a  people  of  money- 
lenders instead  of  merchants.  In  money  loans  one  party  is  in 
sorrow  ;  in  the  trafhc  of  merchandise,  both  parties  gain  and 
rejoice.  This  led  to  talk  on  the  nature  of  criminal  law  in 
general.  Some  acts,  viz.  murder,  rape,  unnatural  offences, 
are  to  be  punished  for  the  sake  of  the  effect  on  the  public 
mind,  that  a  just  sentiment  may  be  taught,  and  not  merely  for 
the  sake  of  prevention.  The  acts  ought  in  themselves  to  be 
punished.  He  dwelt  on  the  influence  of  law  in  forming  the 
public  mind,  and  giving  direction  to  moral  feeling. 

Fehruari/  1st.  —  A  visit  to  a  most  accomplished  lady  of  the 
old  school,  Mrs.  Buller.*  The  poems  of  Southey  and  Scott 
she  has  put  into  her  Index  Expurgatorius.  She  cannot  bear 
the  irregularity  of  their  versification.  Mr.  Jerningham  was 
present,  and  she  called  him  to  his  face  "the  last  of  the  old 
school."  He  is  already  forgotten,  more  completely  than  those 
will  be  whom  his  friend  and  contemporary  treated  so  contempt- 
uously. 

February  18th.  —  At  the  Royal  Academy.  Heard  Flaxman's 
introductory  Lecture  on  Sculpture.  It  was  for  the  most  part, 
or  entirely,  historical.  He  endeavored  to  show  that  in  all 
times  English  sculptors  have  excelled  when  not  prevented  by 
extraneous  circumstances.  This  gave  great  pleasure  to  a 
British  audience.  In  one  or  two  instances  the  lecture  was 
applauded  in  a  way  that  he  would  be  ashamed  of.  He  spoke 
of  some  cathedral  sculpture  of  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  and, 
contrasting  the  remains  of  different  artists,  said,  "  Here,  too, 
we  find  that  the  British  artists  were  superior  to  their  rivals  on 
the  Continent."  This  was  received  with  loud  clapping.  The 
John-Bullism  displayed  was  truly  ridiculous.  Flaxman,  how- 
ever, pleased  me  in  every  respect  in  which  I  had  a  right  to  be 
pleased.  He  spoke  like  an  artist  who  loved  and  honored  his 
art,  but  without  any  personal  feeling.    He  had  all  the  unpre- 

*  See  page  252. 


1811.] 


AN  EVENING  WITH  W.  HAZLITT. 


207 


tending  simplicity  of  a  tmly  great  man.  His  unimposing 
figm-e  received  consequence  from  the  animation  of  his  counte- 
nance ;  and  his  voice,  though  feeble,  was  so  judiciously  managed 
and  so  clear,  and  his  enunciation  was  so  distinct,  that  he  was 
audible  to  a  large  number  of  people. 

March  12th,  —  Tea  and  chess  with  Mrs.  Barbauld.  Eead  on 
my  way  to  her  house  Chapters  VIII.  to  XIV.  of  Southey's 
"  Madoc."  Exceedingly  pleased  with  the  touching  painting  in 
this  poem.  It  has  not  the  splendid  glare  of  "  Kehama,"  but 
there  is  a  uniform  glow  of  pure  and  beautiful  morality  and 
interesting  description,  which  renders  the  work  very  pleasing. 
Surely  none  but  a  pedant  can  affect  or  be  seduced  to  think 
slightingly  of  this  poem.  At  all  events,  the  sensibility  which 
feels  such  beauties  is  more  desirable  than  the  acuteness  which 
could  suggest  severe  criticism. 

March  13th. — A  talk  with  Coleridge,  who  called  on  me. 
Speaking  of  Southey,  he  said  S.  was  not  able  to  appreciate 
Spanish  poetry.  He  wanted  modifying  power :  he  was  a 
jewel-setter,  —  whatever  he  found  to  his  taste,  he  formed  it 
into,  or  made  it  into,  the  ornament  of  a  story. 

March  24th.  —  A  call  on  Coleridge,  who  expatiated  beauti- 
fully on  the  beneficial  influence  of  brotherly  and  sisterly  love 
in 'the  formation  of  character.  He  attributed,  he  said,  certain 
peculiarities  in  persons  whom  he  named  to  the  circumstance 
that  they  had  no  brother.* 

March  29th.  —  Spent  the  evening  with  W.  Hazlitt.  Smith, 
his  wife  and  son,  Hume,  Coleridge,  and  afterwards  Lamb  there. 
Coleridge  philosophized  as  usual.  He  said  that  all  systems  of 
philosophy  might  be  reduced  to  two,  the  dynamical  and  the 
mechanical ;  the  one  converting  all  quantity  into  quality,  the 
other  vice  versct.  He  and  Hazlitt  joined  in  an  obscure  state- 
ment about  abstract  ideas.  Hazlitt  said  he  had  learnt  from 
painting  that  it  is  difficult  to  form  an  idea  of  an  individual 
object,  —  that  we  first  have  only  a  general  idea ;  that  is,  a 
vague,  broken,  imperfect  recollection  of  the  individual  object. 
This  I  observed  was  what  the  multitude  meant  by  a  general 
idea,  and  Hazlitt  said  he  had  no  other.  Coleridge  spoke  of 
the  impossibility  of  referring  the  individual  to  the  class  without 
having  a  previous  notion  of  the  class.    This  is  Kantian  logic. 

We  talked  of  politics.    It  was  amusing  to  observe  how 

*  On  some  other  occasion  I  recollect  his  saying  that  he  envied  Wordsworth 
for  having  had  a  sister,  and  that  his  own  character  had  suffered  from  the  want 
of  a  sister.  —  H.  C.  E. 


208     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


Coleridge  blundered  against  Scotchmen  and  Frenchmen.  He 
represented  the  Ediiibiirgli  Review  as  a  concentration  of  all  the 
smartness  of  all  Scotland.  Edinburgh  is  a  talking  town,  and 
whenever,  in  the  Conversaziones,  a  single  spark  is  elicited,  it  is 
instantly  caught,  preserved,  and  brought  to  the  Review,  He 
denied  humor  to  the  nation.  Smith  appealed  in  behalf  of 
Smollett.  Coleridge  endeavored  to  make  a  distinction,  i.  e.  to 
maintain  his  point,  and  yet  allow  the  claim  of  Smith. 

Before  Lamb  came,  Coleridge  had  spoken  with  warmth  of 
his  excellent  and  serious  conversation.  Hazlitt  imputed  his 
puns  to  humility. 

March  30th,  —  At  C.  Lamb's.  Found  Coleridge  and  Hazlitt 
there,  and  had  a  half-hour's  chat.  Coleridge  spoke  feelingly 
of  Godwin  and  the  unjust  treatment  he  had  met  with.  In 
apology  for  Southey's  review  of  Godwin's  Life  of  Chaucer," 
Coleridge  ingeniously  observed  that  persons  who  are  them- 
selves very  pure  are  sometimes  on  that  account  hlunt  in  their 
moral  feelings.  This  I  believe  to  be  a  very  true  remark  in- 
deed.    Something  like  this  I  have  expressed  respecting  , 

She  is  perfectly  just  herself,  and  expects  everybody  to  be 
equally  so.  She  is  consequently  severe,  and  occasionally 
even  harsh  in  her  judgments. 

"  For  right  too  rigid  hardens  into  wrong." 

Coleridge  used  strong  language  against  those  who  were  once 
the  extravagant  admirers  of  Godwin,  and  afterwards  became 
his  most  bitter  opponents.  I  noticed  the  infinite  superiority 
of  Godwin  over  the  French  writers  in  moral  feeling  and  ten- 
dency. I  had  learned  to  hate  Helvetius  and  Mirabeau,  and 
yet  retained  my  love  for  Godwin.  This  was  agreed  to  as  a  just 
sentiment.  Coleridge  said  there  was  more  in  Godwin,  after  all, 
than  he  was  once  willing  to  admit,  though  not  so  much  as  his 
enthusiastic  admirers  fancied.  He  had  openly  opposed  him, 
but  nevertheless  visited  him.  Southey's  severity  he  attributed 
to  the  habit  of  reviewing.  Southey  had  said  of  Coleridge's 
poetry  that  he  was  a  Dutch  imitator  of  the  Germans.  Cole- 
ridge quoted  this,  not  to  express  any  displeasure  at  it,  but  to 
show  in  what  way  Southey  could  speak  of  him. 

Went  with  C.  Lamb  to  the  Lyceum.  "  The  Siege  of  Bel- 
grade "  afforded  me  considerable  amusement.  The  comic 
scenes  are  droll,  though  commonplace  enough,  and  Miss  Kel- 
ly and  Mathews  gave  due  effect  to  them.  But  Braham's  sing- 
ing delighted  me.    His  trills,  shakes,  and  quavers  are,  like 


1811.] 


OPERA  HOUSE. 


209 


those  of  all  other  great  singers,  tiresome  to  me  ;  but  his  pure 
melody,  the  simple  song  clearly  articulated,  is  equal  to  any- 
thing I  ever  heard.  His  song  was  acted  as  well  as  sung 
delightfully.  Indeed  I  think  Braham  a  fine  actor  while  sing- 
ing ;  he  throws  his  soul  into  his  throat,  but  his  whole  frame 
is  awakened,  and  his  gestures  and  looks  are  equally  impas- 
sioned. 

When  Dignum  and  Mrs.  Bland  came  on  the  stage  together, 
Charles  Lamb  exclaimed, 

"  And  lo,  two  puddings  smoked  upon  the  board!  '* 

April  2d. — A  walk  to  Clapton,  reading,  "  Colonel  Jack,"  the 
latter  half  of  which  is  but  dull  and  commonplace.  The  mo- 
ment he  ceases  to  be  a  thief,  he  loses  everything  interesting. 
Yet  there  runs  through  the  work  a  spirit  of  humanity  which 
does  honor  to  De  Foe.  He  powerfully  pleaded  for  a  humane 
treatment  of  the  slaves  of  America,  at  a  time  when  no  man 
thought  of  abolishing  slavery  itself 

April  Jfih.  —  At  Pope's  benefit,  at  the  Opera  House.  ''The 
Earl  of  Warwick."  Mrs.  Siddons  most  nobly  played  her  part 
as  Margaret  of  Anjou.  The  character  is  one  to  which  she  can 
still  render  justice.  She  looked  ill,  and  I  thought  her  articu- 
lation indistinct,  and  her  voice  drawling  and  funereal  during 
the  first  act ;  but  as  she  advanced  in  the  play,  her  genius  tri- 
umphed over  natural  impediments.  She  was  all  that  could  be 
wished.  The  scene  in  which  she  wrought  upon  the  mind  of 
Warwick  was  perfect.  And  in  the  last  act,  her  triumphant 
joy  at  the  entrance  of  Warwick,  whom  she  had  stabbed,  was 
incomparable.  She  laughed  convulsively,  and  staggered  off 
the  stage  as  if  drunk  with  delight ;  and  in  every  limb  showed 
the  tumult  of  passion  with  an  accuracy  and  a  force  equally  im- 
pressive to  the  critic  and  the  man  of  feeling. 

Her  advancing  age  is  a  real  pain  to  me.  As  an  actor,  she  has 
left  with  me  the  conviction  that  there  never  was,  and  never 
will  be,  her  equal. 

Elliston  played  Edward.  He  is  a  fine  bustling  comedian ; 
but  he  bustles  also  in  tragedy. 

Braham  sang  delightfully  ''  Said  a  Smile  to  a  Tear."  He  is 
incomparably  the  most  delightful  male  singer  I  ever  heard. 

Listen,  in  the  "  Waterman,"  gave  a  burlesque  song  with  ad- 
mirable humor.  I  believe  he  will  soon  be  acknowledged  to  be 
our  first  comedian.  He  raises  more  universal  laughs  than  any 
one,  excepting  perhaps  Mathews,  who  is  only  a  first-rate 

N 


210     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


mimic.  Listen  burlesqued  Braham,  and  there  arose  a  contest 
between  the  lovers  of  burlesque  and  the  jealous  admirers  of  ex- 
quisite music ;  but  the  reasonable  party  prevailed,  and  Lis- 
ton's  encored  song  was  received  wdth  great  applause,  though 
the  burlesque  was  not  less  apparent  than  before. 

Incledon  sang  The  Storm."  It  was  said  to  be  fine.  Math- 
ews sang  his  Mail  Coach,"  —  a  most  excellent  thing  in  its 
way. 

I  have  seldom  had  so  much  pleasure  at  the  theatre. 

A2ml  2Sth, — Anthony  E-obinson  related  an  anecdote  of  Horne 
Tooke,  showing  the  good-humor  and  composure  of  which  he 
was  capable.  Holcroft  was  with  him  at  a  third  person's  table. 
They  had  a  violent  quarrel.    At  length  Holcroft  said,  as  he 

rose  to  leave  the  room  :  "  Mr.  Tooke,  I  tell  you,  you  are  a  

scoundrel,  and  I  alw^ays  thought  you  so."  Tooke  detained 
him,  and  said  :  ".Mr.  Holcroft,  some  time  ago  you  asked  me  to 
come  and  dine  with  you  j  do  tell  me  what  day  it  shall  be." 
Holcroft  stayed. 

May  7th,  —  In  the  afternoon  a  pleasant  chat  with  Flaxman 
alone.  He  spoke  of  aj-tists  and  art  wdth  his  unaffected  modes- 
ty and  kindness.  I  asked  him  w^hy  the  Germans,  who  appre- 
ciated him,  would  not  acknowledge  the  merit  of  our  painters, 
even  Reynolds.  My  art,"  Flaxman  answered,  "  led  me  to 
make  use  of  classical  fable,  of  which  the  Germans  are  fond. 
Beynolds  was  only  a  gentlemanly  scholar."  Sir  Joshua  judged 
ill  of  sculpture  ;  on  that  subject  he  wrote  not  so  well  as 
Rafael  Mengs,  of  whom  Flaxman  spoke  slightingly,  just  as  I 
recollect  hearing  Fernow  at  Jena  speak. 

Ma  ij  9th.  —  Dined  w^ith  Thelwall.  A  large  party.  The  man 
whom  we  went  to  see,  and,  if  we  could,  admire,  was  Dr.  Wol- 
cott,  better  known  as  Peter  Pindar.  He  talked  about  the  art- 
ists, said  that  West  could  paint  neither  ideal  beauty  nor  from 
nature,  called  Opie  the  Michael  Angelo  of  old  age,  complained 
of  the  ingratitude  of  certain  artists  who  owed  everything  to^ 
himself,  spoke  contemptuously  of  Walter  Scott,  who,  he  said, 
ow^cd  his  popularity  to  hard  names.  He  also  declaimed  against 
rhyme  in  general,  w^hich  he  said  was  fit  only  for  burlesque. 
Not  even  Butler  would  live.  At  the  same  time  he  praised  ex- 
ceedingly the  "  Heroic  Epistle  to  Sir  W.  Chambers."  Con- 
greve  he  considered  the  greatest  miracle  of  genius,  and  that 
such  a  man  should  early  abandon  literature  w^as  to  him  unac- 
countable. As  Peter  Pindar  was  blind,  I  was  requested  to 
help  him  to  his  wine,  which  was  in  a  separate  pint  bottle,  and 


1811.] 


DEBATING  SOCIETY. 


211 


was  not  wine  at  all,  but  brandy.*  After  dinner  he  eulogized 
brandy,  calling  it  to  irav,  and  said,  "  He  who  drinks  it  heartily 
must  make  interest  to  die." 

He  said  he  had  made  a  rhyme  that  morning,  of  which  But- 
ler might  not  have  been  ashamed  :  — 

Say,  would  you  long  the  shafts  of  death  defy, 
Pray  keep  your  inside  wet,  your  outside  dry. 

I  referred  to  his  own  writings.  He  said  he  recollected  them 
with  no  pleasure.    "  Satire  is  a  bad  trade." 

Ifai/  15th,  — A  very  pleasant  call  on  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb. 
Read  his  version  of  the  story  of  Prince  Dorus,  the  long-nosed 
king.t  Gossiped  about  writing.  Urged  him  to  try  his  hand 
at  a  metrical  Umarheitimg  (working  up)  of  Reynard  the 
Fox."  He  believed,  he  said,  in  the  excellence  of  the  w^ork, 
but  he  was  sure  such  a  version  as  I  suggested  woidd  not  suc- 
ceed now.  The  sense  of  humor,  he  maintained,  is  utterly  ex- 
tinct.   No  satire  that  is  not  personal  will  succeed.J 

2J^th.  —  Devoted  the  day  to  a  speech  to  be  delivered  at  the 
Academical  Society.  §  The  question,  "  Which  among  the  Arts 
of  Oratory,  History,  and  Poetry  is  most  capable  of  being  ren- 
dered serviceable  to  Mankind  ] "  I  spoke  for  somewhat  more 
than  an  hour. 

The  three  arts  are  alike  liberal  arts,  since  they  are  carried 
on  with  knowledge  and  freedom,  and  not  slavishly.  They 
constitute  the  great  body  of  elegant  learning,  —  Humanity. 

Oratory  is  the  art  of  persuasion  as  opposed  to  logic,  —  the 
art  of  reasoning.  It  is  mischievous  by  withdrawing  attention 
from  the  substance  to  the  show,  from  the  matter  of  discourse 
to  its  ornaments.  I.  Deliberative  or  senatorial  eloquence. 
The  evil  of  accustoming  a  people  to  the  stimulus  of  eloquence. 
This  I  illustrated  by  the  French  Revolution.  For  some  years 
the  people  were  kept  in  a  frenzy  by  the  orators.  The  result 
was  not  the  acquirement  of  any  habits  favorable  either  to 
knowledge  or  liberty.  The  mind  was  left  as  barren  and  as 
unsusceptible  of  good  influence  as  the  earth  from  which  the 
salt  sea  has  receded.    In  the  Enghsh  Senate,  Burke  was  not 

*  In  telling  this  story  Mr.  Robinson  would  humorously  relate  how,  by  pour- 
ing some  into  a  second  glass,  he  contrived  to  ascertain  the  fact  for  himself. 

t  This  is  not  in  his  collected  works,  and,  as  well  as  two  volumes  of  Poems 
for  Children,  is  likely  to  be  lost.  —  H.  C.  R. 

X  An  English  version  of  "  Reineke  der  Fuchs  "  was  afterwards  prepared  by 
Samuel  Naylor,  Jun.,  and  dedicated  to  his  friend  H.  C.  R.  Published  by 
Longman,  1844. 

§  As  Mr.  Robinson  was  a  frequent  attendant  and  speaker  at  Debating 
Societies,  the  notes  of  his  speech  on  one  of  these  occasions  are  given  as  a 
specimen. 


212     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 

listened  to.  Fox  has  left  no  memorial  of  any  good  he  has 
wrought  by  eloquence  ;  his  Libel  Bill  being  the  only  good  law 
he  ever  introduced.  Neither  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  nor  the 
Bill  of  liights,  nor  Magna  Charta,  originated  in  eloquence.  A 
senate  of  orators  is  a  symptom  of  national  decay.  11.  Judicial 
eloquence.  I  expatiated  on  the  glorious  spectacle  of  an  English 
court  of  justice,  and  affirmed  that  its  dignity  would  be  lost  if 
the  people  went  into  it  as  into  a  theatre,  to  admire  the  graces 
of  the  orators.  But,  in  fact,  there  is  little  eloquence  at  pres- 
ent at  the  English  bar.  Erskine  the  only  prominent  man  in 
our  time.  I  contrasted  the  state  of  popular  feeling  in  Greece 
and  Britain.  I  noticed  the  assertion  of  Demosthenes,  that 
action  is  the  first,  second,  and  third  part  of  an  orator,  and  the 
fact  that  he  was  taught  to  speak  by  an  actor.  I  admitted, 
hoAvever,  that  eloquence  might  occasionally  be  useful  (though 
its  resources  were  at  the  service  alike  of  the  tyrant  and  the 
free  man,  the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed),  but  it  is  only  a 
sort  of  convulsive  effect  that  can  be  produced.  The  storm 
which  drives  from  a  populous  city  the  pestilential  vapor  hang- 
ing over  it  may  accidentally  save  it  for  once  from  the  plague ; 
but  it  is  the  sun,  which  rises  day  by  day,  and  the  dew,  which 
falls  night  by  night,  that  give  fertility  to  the  valleys,  though 
the  silent  operation  of  these  causes  does  not  so  forcibly  strike 
the  senses. 

History,  I  observed,  could  instruct  only  by  enabling  us  to 
anticipate  future  events  from  the  past.  But  this  it  cannot  do. 
The  great  events  of  political  life  are  too  unique  to  admit  of  a 
parallel.  The  Crusades,  Reformation,  &c.  The  emancipation 
of  Switzerland,  Holland,  Portugal,  Sweden,  each  took  place 
on  grounds  of  its  own  ;  and  no  inference  could  be  drawn  from 
one  to  another.  No  Irishman,  for  instance,  wishing  to  deliver 
his  country  from  English  rule,  could  draw  an  argument  from 
the  success  of  any  other  rebellion.  The  great  outline  of  his- 
torical occurrences  is  beyond  the  sphere  of  human  agency ;  it 
belongs  to  the  economy  of  Divine  Providence,  and  is  illustrated 
in  the  gradual  civilization  of  mankind.  All  the  rest  is  pure 
uncertainty.  Horace  Walpole's  historical  doubts.  Character 
of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  The  death  of  Charles  XII.  of  Swe- 
den. 

History  may  be  thought  to  improve  the  affections.  This  is 
so  far  from  being  true,  that  history  shows  the  triumph  of  fraud, 
violence,  and  guilt ;  and  if  there  were  no  resource  elsewhere, 
the  mind,  by  mere  history,  would  be  driven  to  despair. 


1811.] 


NOTES  OF  A  SPEECH. 


213 


[I  omitted  to  show  how  little  private  persons  can  be  im- 
proved by  that  which  treats  merely  of  public  events,  and  also 
that  statesmen  have  been  guided  by  sagacity  in  the  just 
comprehension  of  the  actual  state  of  things,  and  that  learned 
men  have  seldom  had  any  marked  influence  in  public  affairs.] 

Poetry  I  described  as  having  its  origin  in  a  principle  of  our 
nature,  by  which  we  are  enabled  to  conceive  of  things  as  better 
than  any  actually  known.  The  mind  is  cheered  by  its  own 
images  of  excellence,  and  is  thus  enabled  to  bear  up  against 
the  evils  of  life.  Besides,  we  are  more  instructed  by  poetic 
than  historic  truth  ;  for  the  one  is  but  a  series  of  insignificant 
accidents,  while  the  other  contains  the  essential  truth  of  things. 
Homer's  Achilles  is  a  fine  picture  of  a  warrior  whose  breast  is 
full  of  all  the  irascible,  and  yet  all  the  affectionate,  feelings. 
The  baseness  of  a  grovelling  ambition  of  regal  dominion  is 
better  exemplified  in  Shakespeare's  "  Richard  III.,"  the  tre- 
mendous consequence  of  yielding  to  the  suggestions  of  evil  in 
^'  Macbeth,"  the  necessity  of  having  the  sensible  and  reflective 
qualities  balanced  by  active  energy  in  "  Hamlet,"  the  nature 
of  jealousy  in  "  Othello/'  than  in  any  mere  historic  narra- 
tives. 

What  can  the  historian  do  1  He  can  give  us  plausible  spec- 
ulations. What  the  Brator  1  Stir  our  feelings,  but  for  a  time 
only.  Whereas  the  poet  enriches  our  imaginations  with  unages 
of  every  virtue. 

I  was  followed  by  Twiss,  Dumoulin,  and  Temple.  At  the 
close  of  the  discussion,  the  few  persons  who  had  remained  held 
up  their  hands,  —  five  for  history,  and  one  each  for  poetry  and 
eloquence. 

Ma?/  26th.  —  As  Eobert  Hall  w^as  to  preach  in  the  Borough,  I 
went  to  hear  him.  The  discourse  was  certainly  a  very  beauti- 
ful one.  He  began  by  a  florid  but  eloquent  and  impressive 
description  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  deduced  from  his  history, 
not  with  the  severity  of  argument  which  a  logician  requires, 
but  with  a  facility  of  illustration  which  oratory  delights  in, 
and  which  was  perfectly  allowable,  the  practical  importance 
of  discharging  the  duty  which  belongs  to  our  actual  condition. 

June  Gill,  —  Met  Coleridge  at  the  Exhibition.  He  drew  my 
attention  to  the  "  vigorous  impotence  "  of  Fuseli,  especially  in 
his  "  Macbeth."  *   "  The  prominent  witch,"  said  Coleridge, 

*  No.  12  of  the  Eoyal  Academy  Catalogue,  where  it  is  entered  *'  Macbeth 
consulting  the  Vision  of  the  Armed  Head."  —  Shakespeare.  Macbeth.  Act 
IV.,  Scene  I. 


214    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 

"  is  smelling  a  stink."  He  spoke  of  painting  as  one  of  the 
lost  arts. 

June  11th.  —  Called  on  Coleridge.  He  made  some  striking 
observations  on  the  character  of  an  excellent  man.  "  I  have 
long,"  he  said,  considered  him  an  abstraction,  rather  than  a 
person  to  be  beloved.  He  is  incapable  of  loving  any  excepting 
those  whom  he  has  benefited.  He  has  been  so  in  the  habit 
of  being  useful,  that  he  seems  to  lose  his  interest  in  those  to 
whom  he  can  be  of  no  further  use." 

June  13th.  —  After  tea  a  call  on  C.  Lamb.  His  brother  with 
him.    A  chat  on  puns.    Evanson,  in  his  "  Dissonance  of  the 

Gospels,"  thinks  Luke  most  w^orthy  of  credence.    P  said 

that  Evanson  was  a  /wZ.warm  Christian.  I  related  this  to  C. 
Lamb.  But,  to  him,  a  mere  play  of  words  was  nothing  with- 
out a  spice  of  the  ridiculous.  He  was  reading  with  a  friend 
a  book  of  Eastern  travels,  and  the  friend  observed  of  the 
MantscJm  Tartars,  that  they  must  be  cannibals.  This  Lamb 
thought  better.  The  large  room  in  the  accountant's  office  at 
the  East  India  House  is  divided  into  boxes  or  compartments, 
in  each  of  which  sit  six  clerks,  Charles  Lamb  himself  in  one. 
They  are  called  Compounds.  The  meaning  of  the  word  was 
asked  one  day,  and  Lamb  said  it  was    a  collection  of  simples." 

June  16th.  —  Dined  at  Sergeant  Rougfi's,  and  met  the  once 
celebrated  Mrs.  Abington.*  From  her  present  appearance  one 
can  hardly  suppose  she  could  ever  have  been  otherwise  than 
plain.  She  herself  laughed  at  her  snub  nose.  But  she  is 
erect,  has  a  large  blue  expressive  eye,  and  an  agreeable  voice. 
She  spoke  of  her  retirement  from  the  stage  as  occasioned  by 
the  vexations  of  a  theatrical  life.  She  said  she  should  have 
gone  mad  if  she  had  not  quitted  her  profession.  She  has  lost 
all  her  professional  feelings,  and  w^hen  she  goes  to  the  theatre 
can  laugh  and  cry  like  a  child;  but  the  trouble  is  too  great, 
and  she  does  not  often  go.  It  is  so  much  a  thing  of  course 
that  a  retired  actor  should  be  a  laudator  temporis  acti,  that  I 
felt  unwilling  to  draw  from  her  any  opinion  of  her  successors. 
Mrs.  Siddons,  however,  she  praised,  though  not  with  the 
warmth  of  a  genuine  admirer.  She  said  :  "  Early  in  life  Mrs. 
Siddons  was  anxious  to  succeed  in  comedy,  and  played  Rosalind 
before  I  retired."  In  speaking  of  the  modern  declamation, 
and  the  too  elaborate  emphasis  given  to  insignificant  words, 

*  Mrs.  Abington  first  appeared  at  the  Haymarket  as  Miranda,  in  tlie  "  Busy 
Body."  Her  last  public  appearance  was  April  12,  1799.  She  died  in  her 
house  in  Pall  Mall,  March,  1815. 


1811.] 


MR.  AND  MRS.  FLAXMAN. 


215 


she  said,  "  That  was  brought  in  by  them "  (the  Kembles). 
She  spoke  with  admiration  of  the  Covent  Garden  horses,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  her  praise  was  meant  to  have  the  effect 
of  satire.  Of  all  the  present  actors,  Murray  most  resembles 
Garrick.  She  spoke  of  Barry  with  great  warmth.  He  was  a 
nightingale.  Such  a  voice  was  never  heard.  He  confined  himself 
to  characters  of  great  tenderness  and  sweetness,  such  as  Romeo. 
She  admitted  the  infinite  superiority  of  Garrick  in  genius.  His 
excellence  lay  in  the  bursts  and  quick  transitions  of  passion, 
and  in  the  variety  and  universality  of  his  genius.  Mrs.  Abing- 
ton  would  not  have  led  me  to  suppose  she  had  been  on  the 
stage  by  either  her  manner  or  the  substance  of  her  conversa- 
tion. She  speaks  with  the  ease  of  a  person  used  to  good  so- 
ciety, rather  than  with  the  assurance  of  one  whose  business  it 
was  to  imitate  that  ease. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flaxman  called  in  the  evening.  An  argumen- 
tative conversation,  which  is  not  Flaxman' s  forte.  He  is  de- 
lightful in  the  great  purity  of  his  moral  sense,  and  the  conse- 
quent delicacy  of  his  taste  on  all  subjects  of  ethics :  but  his 
understanding  is  not  cast  in  a  logical  mould  ;  and  when  he 
has  a  fixed  idea,  there  is  no  possibility  of  changing  it.  He 
said  Linnseus  had  made  a  great  blunder  in  classing  the  whale 
with  man,  merely  because  it  belongs  to  the  mammalia.  And 
it  was  impossible  to  make  him  acknowledge,  or  apparently  to 
comprehend,  the  difference  between  an  artificial  and  a  natural 
classification.  As  a  proof  that  Hume  wished  to  apologize  for 
Charles  11. ,  he  quoted  the  sentence,  "  Charles  was  a  polite 
husband  and  a  generous  lover  " ;  and  he  did  not  perceive  that 
this  was  a  mere  statement  of  fact,  and  by  no  means  implied  a 
wish  to  defend  or  vindicate.  Hume  could  not  have  imagined 
that  politeness  is  the  appropriate  virtue  of  a  husband,  or  that 
the  profusion  of  a  king  towards  his  mistresses  is  laudable.  But 
it  is  not  necessary,  even  for  the  purposes  of  edification,  to  ring 
the  changes  of  moral  censure. 

June  18th.  —  Accompanied  Mrs.  Pattisson  and  her  son  Wil- 
liam to  Lawrence  the  painter.  On  entering  the  room,  he  fixed 
his  eyes  on  William  with  evident  admiration,  not  noticing  the 
mother,  who  had  been  handsome.  On  my  asking  him  whether 
he  could  find  time  to  paint  the  boy,  he  said  in  a  half-whisper, 
"  To  be  sure,  he  must  be  painted."  The  picture  was  to  in- 
clude his  brother  Jacob.  It  was  arranged  that  the  two  boys 
should  wait  on  Mr.  Lawrence  on  Wednesday,  the  26th  inst. 

I  may  here  mention  an  occurrence  which  took  place  in  1809, 


216     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 

while  I  was  at  Witham  on  a  visit  to  the  Pattissons.  There 
was  a  grand  jubilee  to  celebrate  the  termination  of  the  fiftieth 
year  of  the  reign  of  George  HI.  At  morning  prayers,  William, 
aged  eight,  said,  "  Mamma,  ought  I  not  to  pray  for  the  King  1 " 
—  "  To  be  sure,  if  you  feel  the  desire."  On  which  he  folded 
his  hands,  and  said,  "  0  God,  grant  that  the  King  may  con- 
tinue to  reign  with  justice  and  victory."  The  words  were 
scarcely  out  of  his  mouth,  when  Jacob,  then  six  years  and  a 
half,  said  May  n't  I  pray  too  ?  "  The  mother  could  not  re- 
fuse. ^'  0  God,  be  so  good  as  to  let  the  King  live  another 
fifty  years." 

June  21st  — A  pleasant  party  at  Collier's.  Lamb  in  high 
spirits.  One  pun  from  him  at  least  successful.  Punsters  be- 
ing abused,  and  the  old  joke  repeated  that  he  who  puns  will 
pick  a  pocket,  some  one  said,  "  Punsters  themselves  have 
no  pockets."  —  "  No,"  said  Lamb,     they  carry  only  a  ridi- 

June  26t1i.  —  Went  with  the  Pattissons  to  Lawrence's.  He 
consented  to  paint  the  two  boys  for  160  guineas.  They  had 
their  first  sitting  to-day.  I  took  an  opportunity  of  telling 
him  an  anecdote  respecting  himself,  which  did  not  seem  to 
displease  him,  though  eminent  men  are  in  many  instances  well 
pleased  to  forget  the  day  of  little  things.  His  father  was  the 
master  of  the  Bear  Inn  at  Devizes,  and  he  himself  was  for  a 
short  time  at  Mr.  Fenner's  school.  Some  time  between  1786 
and  1789  a  stranger,  calling  at  Mr.  Fenner's,  remarked,  "  They 
say,  Mr.  Fenner,  that  your  old  pupil,  Tommy  Lawrence,  is 
turning  out  a  very  pretty  painter." 

July  9th.  —  Evening  at  Lady  Broughton's.  W.  Maltby,  in  our 
walk  home,  related  an  anecdote  which  he  himself  had  from  the 
Bishop  of  LlandafF.  The  Bishop  was  standing  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  in  company  with  Lords  Thurlow  and  Loughborough, 
when  Lord  Southampton  accosted  him  :  want  your  advice, 
my  Lord  ;  how  am  I  to  bring  up  my  son  so  as  to  make  him  get 
forwards  in  the  world  ] "  —  "I  know  of  but  one  way,"  replied 
the  Bishop  ;  "  give  him  parts  and  poverty.''  —  Well,  then," 
replied  Lord  S.,  "if  God  has  given  him  parts,  I  will  manage 
as  to  the  poverty." 

July  11th, — Called  on  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Mr.  and  Miss  Bel- 
sham,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tooke,  Sen.  Tooke  told  a  good  story. 
Lord  Bolingbroke  dined  one  day  with  Bishop  Burnet.  There 
was  a  sumptuous  entertainment,  and  Lord  Bolingbroke  asked 
the  Bishop  whether  the  Apostles  fared  so  well.    "  0  no,  my 


1811.] 


COLERIDGE  AND  SOUTHEY. 


217 


lord."  —  "  And  how  do  you  account  for  the  difference  between 
the  clergy  of  the  present  day  and  those  of  the  primitive 
Church  ?  "  —  ^'  It  is  so,"  replied  Burnet,  on  all  occasions  ;  we 
always  see  that  inventors  and  speculators  are  ruined,  while 
others  reap  the  gain."  But  surely  the  repartee  is  applied  to 
the  wrong  person.  Burnet  would  not  have  so  compromised 
himself  to  Bolingbroke. 

Jtdi/  2Jfth.  —  Late  at  C.  Lamb's.  Found  a  large  party  there. 
Southey  had  been  with  Blake,  and  admired  both  his  designs 
and  his  poetic  talents.  At  the  same  time  he  held  him  to  be  a 
decided  madman.  Blake,  he  said,  spoke  of  his  visions  with  the 
diffidence  which  is  usual  with  such  people,  and  did  not  seem 
to  expect  that  he  should  be  believed.  He  showed  Southey  a 
perfectly  mad  poem,  called  "  Jerusalem."  Oxford  Street  is  in 
Jerusalem. 

July  26th.  —  At  the  Lyceum  Theatre  with  Amyot.  The 
Quadrupeds,"  otherwise  the  Tailors,  revived  under  a  new 
name.  The  prelude  represents  a  poor  manager  in  distress. 
He  is  assailed  by  a  bailiff,  and,  leading  him  to  a  trap-door, 
forces  him  down.  Sheridan  looked  on,  and  clapped.  The 
burlesque  scene  between  the  master-tailor  (Lovegrove)  and  his 
wife  (Miss  Kelly),  who  is  alarmed  by  a  dream,  was  excellent. 

Juli/  28th.  — After  dinner  walked  to  Morgan's,  beyond  Ken- 
sington, to  see  Coleridge,  and  found  Southey  there.  Coleridge, 
talking  of  German  poetry,  represented  Klopstock  as  compound- 
ed of  everything  bad  in  Young,  Harvey,  and  Bichardson.  He 
praised  warmly  an  essay  on  Hogarth  by  C.  Lamb,  and  spoke 
of  wrong ers  of  subjects  as  well  as  writers  on  them.  He  was  in 
spirits,  and  was  apparently  pleased  with  a  letter  I  brought 
him  from  Mrs.  Clarkson. 

Coleridge  and  Southey  spoke  of  Thelwall,  calling  him  mere- 
ly "  John."  Southey  said  :  "  He  is  a  good-hearted  man  ;  be- 
sides, we  ought  never  to  forget  that  he  was  once  as  near  as 
possible  being  hanged,  and  there  is  some  merit  in  that." 

Enjoyed  exceedingly  my  walk  back  with  Southey.  Speaking 
of  forms  of  government,  he  said,  there  is  no  doubt  a  republic 
is  the  best  form  of  government  in  itself,  —  as  a  sun-dial  is  in 
itself  the  most  certain  and  perfect  instrument  for  ascertaining 
the  hour.  And  if  the  sun  shone  always,  men  would  never 
have  been  at  the  trouble  of  making  clocks.  But,  as  it  is, 
these  instruments  are  in  most  frequent  use.  If  mankind  were 
illuminated  by  the  pure  sun  of  reason,  they  would  dispense 
with  complicated  forms  of  government.    He  talked  largely 

VOL.  I.  10 


218    KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 

about  Spain.  A  Jacobin  revolution  must  purify  the  country 
before  any  good  can  be  done.  Catholicism  is  absolutely  in- 
compatible with  great  improvements.  In  the  Cortes,  he  says, 
nine  tenths  of  the  members  are  bigoted  papists,  and  one  tenth 
Jacobin  atheists.  Barcelona  might  have  been  purchased,  had 
our  government  been  on  the  alert.  Southey  spoke  highly  of 
Blanco  White. 

July  29th.  —  Eead  four  books  of  Thalaba,"  and  one  book 
of  the  "  Castle  of  Indolence."  Thomson's  poem  most  delight- 
ful. Surely,  in  the  finish  of  such  a  work,  there  is  a  charm 
which  surpasses  the  effect  produced  by  the  fitful  and  irregular 
beauties  of  a  work  like  Southey's. 

August  Sd.  —  Bathed  for  the  first  time  in  Peerless  Pool, 
originally  perilous  pool ;  but  it  deserves  neither  title.  In  the 
evening  at  Charles  Lamb's.  He  was  serious,  and  therefore  very 
interesting.  I  accidentally  made  use  of  the  expression  poor 
Coleridge  !  "  Lamb  corrected  me,  not  angrily,  but  as  if  really 
pained.  "  He  is,"  he  said,  a  fine  fellow,  in  spite  of  all  his 
faults  and  weaknesses.  Call  him  Coleridge ;  I  hate  poor,  as 
applied  to  such  a  man.  I  can't  bear  to  hear  such  a  man 
pitied."  He  then  quoted  an  expression  to  the  same  effect  by 
(I  think)  Ben  Jonson  of  Bacon. 

Reminiscences,^  —  I  frequently  saw  Coleridge  about  this 
time,  and  was  made  privy  to  an  incident  which  need  no  longer 
be  kept  a  secret.  Coleridge  was  then  a  contributor  to  the 
Courier,  and  wrote  an  article  on  the  Duke  of  York,  which  was 
printed  on  Friday,  the  5th  of  July.  But  the  government  got 
scent  of  it,  and  therefore,  by  the  interference  of  Mr.  Arbuth- 
not  of  the  Treasury,  after  about  2,000  copies  had  been  printed, 
it  was  suppressed.  This  offended  Coleridge,  who  would  gladly 
have  transferred  his  services  to  the  Times.  I  spoke  about  him 
to  Walter,  but  Fraser  was  then  firmly  established,  and  no  oth- 
er hand  was  required  for  the  highest  department.  I  have 
found  a  paper  in  Coleridge's  hand  in  reference  to  this  affair. 
It  states  what  service  he  was  willing  to  render,  —  such  as  at- 
tending six  hours  a  day,  and  writing  so  many  articles  per  week. 
One  paragraph  only  has  any  significance,  because  it  shows  the 
state  of  his  mind  :  ^*  The  above,  always  supposing  the  paper  to 
be  truly  independent,  first,  of  the  Administration,  secondly,  of 
Palace  Yard,  and  that  its  fundamental  principle  is,  the  due 
proportion  of  political  power  to  property,  joined  with  the  re- 
moval of  all  obstacles  to  the  free  circulation  and  transfer  of 


*  Written  in  1849. 


1811.] 


AT  LAMB'S.  —  AT  DR.  AIKIN'S. 


219 


property,  and  all  artificial  facilitations  of  its  natural  tendency 
to  accumulate  in  large  and  growing  masses." 

Aug  list  8th.  — At  C.  Lamb's.  Coleridge  there.  A  short  but 
interesting  conversation  on  German  metaphysics.  He  related 
some  curious  anecdotes  of  his  son  Hai^tley,  whom  he  repre- 
sented as  a  most  remarkable  child.  A  deep  thinker  in  his 
infancy,  — -  one  who  tormented  himself  in  his  attempts  to  solve 
the  problems  which  would  equally  torment  the  full-groAvn  man, 
if  the  world  and  its  cares  and  its  pleasures  did  not  abstract  his 
attention.  When  about  five  years  old.  Hartley  was  asked  a 
question  concerning  himself-  by  some  one  who  called  him 
Hartley."  —  Which  Hartley  ]"  asked  the  boy.  "  Why,  is 
there  more  than  one  Hartley '? "  —  Yes,  there 's  a  deal  of 
Hartleys."  —  "  How  so  ]  "  —  "  There 's  Picture  Hartley  (Haz- 
litt  had  painted  a  portrait  of  him),  and  Shadow  Hartley,  and 
there 's  Echo  Hartley,  and  there 's  Catch-me-fast  Hartley,"  — 
at  the  same  time  seizing  his  own  arm  with  the  other  hand  very 
eagerly,  an  action  which  shows  that  his  mind  must  have  been 
led  to  reflect  on  what  Kant  calls  the  great  and  inexplicable 
mystery  that  man  should  be  both  his  ow^n  subject  and  object, 
and  that  these  should  yet  be  one.  At  the  same  early  age," 
said  Coleridge,  he  used  to  be  in  an  agony  of  thought  about 
the  reality  of  existence.  Some  one  said  to  him,  ^  It  is  not  now, 
but  it  is  to  be.'  —  '  But,'  said  he,  *  if  it  is  to  be,  it  is.'*  Perhaps 
this  confusion  of  thought  lay  not  merely  in  the  imperfection 
of  language.  Hartley,  when  a  boy,  had  no  pleasure  in  tilings  ; 
they  made  no  impression  on  him  till  they  had  undergone  a  sort 
of  process  in  his  mind,  and  become  thoughts  or  feelings."  With 
a  few  abatements  for  fatherly  affection,  I  have  no  doubt  Hart- 
ley is  a  remarkable  child.  But  of  his  subsequent  progress 
Coleridge  said  little. 

August  17 ill.  —  Tea  at  Dr.  Aikin's.  Found  the  Dr.,  Miss 
Aikin,  &c.,  very  agreeable.  Indeed  there  has  seemed  to  me 
of  late  less  to  dislike  in  the  political  and  religious  opinions  of 
this  circle  than  I  thought  formerly.  A  successful  game  of 
chess  with  Miss  Aikin,  which  I  proposed  as  a  sort  of  ordeal  to 
test  whether  I  was  right  in  recommending  "  Benvenuto  Cellini " 
for  its  interest  and  beauty,  or  she  in  sending  it  home  with  dis- 
gust. Early  at  home.  Read  Scott's  note  on  Fairies  in  the 
"  Minstrelsy."  A  shallow  and  unsatisfactory  essay.  The  sub- 
ject is  so  interesting,  that  nothing  can  be  altogether  unattrac- 
tive that  treats  of  it.  A  work  at  once  critical  and  philosophi- 
cal, on  the  popular  superstitions  of  mankind  in  different  ages, 


220     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


would  be  most  curious.  It  would  embrace  a  vast  mass  of  im- 
portant matter,  closely  connected  with  philosophy  and  religion. 
Scott's  collection,  Vol.  II.,  contains  much  that  is  valuable  and 
beautiful.  "  Tamlane  "  is  one  of  the  best  poems.  It  has  the 
levity  and  grace  of  a  genuine  fairy  fiction,  and  at  the  same  time 
there  is  about  it  a  tone  of  earnestness  which  suits  a  legend  of 
popular  belief  In  Thomas  the  Rhymer,"  the  enigmatic  lines 
which  speak  of  our  national  and  distinctive  character  and  glory 
ought  to  become  popular  :  — 

"  The  waters  worship  shall  his  race ; 

Likewise  the  waves  of  the  farthest  sea; 
For  they  shall  ricle  over  ocean  wide 

With  hempen  bridles,  and  horse  of  tree.** 

August  23d.  —  A  run  up  to  Lawrence's.  He  has  made  a 
most  delightful  picture  of  William  and  Jacob  Pattisson.  The 
heads  only  are  finished.  William's  is  a  side-face,  —  very 
beautiful,  but  certainly  not  more  so  than  the  original.  Jacob 
is  a  smiling,  open-faced  boy,  with  an  admirably  sweet  expres- 
sion. William  has  had  justice  done  him.  More  was  not  to  be 
expected  of  any  mortal  colors.  Jacob  has  had  more  than  jus- 
tice done  himx,  but  not  in  a  way  that  can  fairly  be  a  matter  of 
reproach.  If  the  artist  has  idealized  somewhat,  and  given  an 
expression  which  is  not  on  the  boy's  face  every  day,  still,  he  has 
not  given  a  grace  or  a  charm  which  lies  not  in  his  moral  frame. 
He  has  no  more  said  in  his  picture  the  thing  that  is  not,  than 
the  magnifying  glass,  which  never  invents,  or  gives  more  or 
other  objects  than  there  really  are,  but  merely  assists  the 
infirm  optics  of  the  beholder.  William  is  painted  without  any 
momentary  expression,  i.  e.  he  does  not  appear,  like  Jacob,  to 
be  under  an  immediate  inspiring  influence,  which  occasions  an 
arch  smile  not  likely  to  be  permanent  even  on  the  cheeks  of 
Eobin  Goodfellow  himself.  * 

October  15th. — Journey  to  London.  Incledon  the  singer 
was  in  the  coach,  and  I  found  him  just  the  man  I  should  have 
expected.  Seven  rings  on  his  fingers,  five  seals  on  his  watch- 
ribbon,  and  a  gold  snufi'-box,  at  once  betrayed  the  old  beau.  I 
spoke  in  terms  of  rapture  of  Mrs.  Siddons.  He  replied,  "  Ah  ! 
Sally 's  a  fine  creature.  She  has  a  charming  place  on  the  Edge- 
ware  Road.  I  dined  with  her  last  year,  and  she  paid  me  one 
of  the  finest  compliments  I  ever  received.  I  sang  ^  The  Storm ' 

*  After  a  lonor  interval  the  picture  was  finished,  and  exhibited  at  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1817,  No.  44  of  the  Catalogue,  as  "  Portraits  of  tlie  Sons  of  W. 
Pattisson,  Esq.  Sir  T.  Lawrence,  R.  A."  It  was  subsequently  engraved  by 
John  Bromley,  in  mezzotint,  under  the  title  of  "  Rural  Amusement." 


1811.] 


ANECDOTE  OF  FOOTE. 


221 


after  dinner.  She  cried  and  sobbed  like  a  child.  Taking  both 
of  my  hands,  she  said,  ^  All  that  I  and  my  brother  ever  did  is 
nothing  compared  with  the  effect  you  produce  !  ' "  Incledon 
spoke  with  warmth  and  apparent  knowledge  on  church  music, 
praising  Purcell  especially,  and  mentioning  Luther's  simple 
hymns.  I  was  forced  to  confess  that  I  had  no  ear  for  music, 
and  he,  in  order  to  try  me,  sang  in  a  sort  of  song-whisper  some 
melodies  which  I  certainly  enjoyed,  —  more,  I  thought,  than 
anything  I  had  heard  from  him  on  the  stage.  He  related  two 
anecdotes  that  had  no  reference  to  himself  Garrick  had  a 
brother  living  in  the  country,  who  was  an  idolatrous  admirer 
of  his  genius.  A  rich  neighbor,  a  grocer,  being  about  to  visit 
London,  this  brother  insisted  on  his  taking  a  letter  of  introduc- 
tion to  the  actor.  Not  being  able  to  make  up  his  mind  to  visit 
the  great  man  the  first  day,  the  grocer  went  to  the  play  in  the 
evening,  and  saw  Garrick  in  Abel  Drugger.  On  his  return  to 
the  country,  the  brother  eagerly  inquired  respecting  the  visit 
he  had  been  so  anxious  to  bring  about.  Why,  Mr.  Garrick," 
said  the  good  man,  "  I  am  sorry  to  hurt  your  feelings,  but 
there 's  your  letter.  I  did  not  choose  to  deliver  it." —  "Not 
deliver  it !  "  exclaimed  the  other,  in  astonishment.  —  "I  hap- 
pened to  see  him  when  he  did  not  know  me,  and  I  saw  that  he 
was  such  a  dirty,  low-lived  fellow,  that  I  did  not  like  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  him."    Foote  went  to  Ireland,  and  took 

off  F  ,  the  celebrated  Dublin  printer.    F  stood  the 

jest  for  some  time,  but  found  at  last  that  Foote' s  imitations 
became  so  popular,  and  drew  such  attention  to  himself,  that  he 
could  not  walk  the  streets  without  being  pointed  at.  He  be- 
thought himself  of  a  remedy.  Collecting  a  number  of  boys,  he 
gave  them  a  hearty  meal,  and  a  shilling  each  for  a  place  in  the 
gallery,  and  promised  them  another  meal  on  the  morrow  if 
they  would  hiss  off  the  scoundrel  who  turned  him  into  ridicule. 
The  injured  man  learnt  from  his  friends  that  Foote  was  re- 
ceived that  night  better  than  ever.  Nevertheless,  in  the 
morning,  the  ragged  troop  of  boys  appeared  to  demand  their 
recompense,  and  when  the  printer  reproached  them  for  their 
treachery,  their  spokesman  said,  "  Plase  yer  honor,  we  did  all 
we  could,  for  the  actor-man  had  heard  of  us,  and  did  not  come 
at  all  at  all.  And  so  we  had  nobody  to  hiss.  But  when  we 
saw  yer  honor's  own  dear  self  come  on,  we  did  clap,  indeed  we 
did,  and  showed  you  all  the  respect  and  honor  in  our  power. 
And  so  yer  honor  won't  forget  us  because  yer  honor's  enemy 
was  afraid  to  come,  and  left  yer  honor  to  yer  own  dear  self." 


222    re:jinisce:nX^i:s  of  henry  crabb  robinson.  [Chap.  u, 

October  22d. — Ccalled  on  Godwin.  Curran,  the  Master  of  the 
Boils  in  Ireland,  v/as  with  him.  Curran  told  an  anecdote  of 
an  Irish  Parliament-man  who  was  boasting  in  the  House  of 
Commons  of  his  attachment  to  the  trial  by  jury.  "  Mr. 
Speaker,  with  the  trial  by  jury  I  have  lived,  and,  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God,  with  the  trial  by  jury  will  I  die  ! "  Curran  sat 
near  him,  and  wdiispered  audibly,  What,  Jack,  do  you  mean 
to  be  hanged  1: " 

November  Jftli.  —  Hab.*  told  me  that  Clarkson  had  lately 
been  to  see  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  Bathurst.  He  found  him 
very  liberal  indeed.  He  told  Clarkson  that  one  of  his  clergy- 
men had  written  to  him  to  complain  that  a  Mr.  Dewhurst  had 
opened  a  meeting  in  his  parish  and  was  preaching  against  him. 

I  wrote  him  w^ord,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  that  he  must  preach 
against  Mr.  Dewhurst.    I  could  not  help  him." 

November  loth.  —  Fraser  related  a  humorous  story  of  his 
meeting  in  a  stage-coach  with  a  little  fellow  who  was  not  only 
very  smart  and  buckish  in  his  dress,  but  also  a  pretender  to 
science  and  philosophy.  He  spoke  of  having  been  at  Paris, 
and  of  having  read  Helvetius,  Voltaire,  &c.,  and  was  very 
fluent  in  his  declamation  on  the  origin  of  ideas,  self-love,  and 
the  other  favorite  doctrines  of  the  new  school.  He  said,  ^'  I 
have  no  objection  to  confess  myself  a  materialist.''''  On  this 
an  old  man,  v/ho  had  listened  for  a  long  time  to  the  discourse, 
and  had  more  than  once  betrayed  symptoms  of  dissatisfaction 
and  scorn  towards  the  philosopher,  could  not  contain  himself 
any  longer.  "  D  it,  that 's  too  bad  !  You  have  the  im- 
pudence to  say  you  are  a  materialist,  when  I  know  you  are  a 
dancing-master^  The  voluble  orator  was  dumfoundered,  and 
Fraser  could  not  restrain  the  most  violent  laughter,  which 
mortally  offended  the  cutter  of  capers.  "  It  is  too  bad,"  mut- 
tered the  old  man,  who  did  not  comprehend  the  cause  of 
Fraser's  merriment,  —  "  it  is  too  bad  for  a  man  to  say  he  is  of 
one  trade  when  he  is  of  another." 

December  5th.  —  Accompanied  Mrs.  Eutt  to  Coleridge's  lec- 
ture.f    In  this  he  surpassed  himself  in  the  art  of  talking  in  a 

*  H.  C.  R.'s  brother,  Habakkuk. 

t  Thh  course  of  lectures  was  delivered  at  the  room  of  the  London  Philo- 
sophical Society,  Scots  Corporation  Hall,  Crane  Court,  Fleet  Street.  The  first 
lecture  was  delivered  on  the  ISth  of  November.  ]\Ir.  Robinson  attended  the 
greater  part  of  the  course,  but,  through  absence  from  London,  was  not  present 
at  the  whole.  The  subject  announced  was:  "Shakespeare  and  Milton,  in 
Illustration  of  the  Principles  of  Poetrv,  and  their  Application  as  Grounds  of 
Criticism  to  the  most  Popular  Works  of  "later  English  Poets,  those  of  the  Living 
included."    Of  these  lectures,  fifteen  in  number,  Mr.  J.  P.  Collier  took  notes 


1811.] 


COLERIDGE'S  LECTURES. 


223 


very  interesting  way,  without  speaking  at  all  on  the  subject 
announced.  According  to  advertisement,  he  was  to  lecture  on 
"  Komeo  and  Juliet,"  and  Shakespeare's  female  characters. 
Instead  of  this  he  began  with  a  defence  of  school-flogging,  in 
preference  at  least  to  Lancaster's  mode  of  punishing,  without 
pretending  to  find  the  least  connection  between  that  topic  and 
poetry.  Afterwards  he  remarked  on  the  character  of  the  age  of 
Ehzabeth  and  James  I.,  as  compared  with  that  of  Charles  I. ; 
distinguished  not  very  clearly  between  wit  and  fancy  ;  referred 
to  the  different  languages  of  Europe  ;  attacked  the  fashionable 
notion  concerning  poetic  diction  ;  ridiculed  the  tautology  of 
Johnson's  line,  "  If  observation,  with  extensive  view,"  &c. ; 
and  warmly  defended  Shakespeare  against  the  charge  of  im- 
purity.  While  Coleridge  was  commenting  on  Lancaster's  mode 
of  punishing  boys.  Lamb  whispered  :  "  It  is  a  pity  he  did  not 
leave  this  till  he  got  to  *  Henry  YI.,'  for  then  he  might  say 
he  could  not  help  taking  part  against  the  Lancastrians."  After- 
wards, when  Coleridge  was  running  from  topic  to  topic,  Lamb 
said  :  "  This  is  not  much  amiss.  He  promised  a  lecture  on  the 
Nurse  in  *  Eomeo  and  Juliet,'  and  in  its  place  he  has  given 
us  one  in  the  manner  of  the  Nurse." 

Mrs.  Clarkson  to  H.  C.  R. 

December  5, 1811. 

Do  give  me  some  account  of  Coleridge.  I  guess  you  drew 
up  the  accoimt  in  the  Times  of  the  first  lecture.  I  do  hope 
he  will  have  steadiness  to  go  on  with  the  lectures  to  the 
end.    It  would  be  so  great  a  point  gained,  if  he  could  but 

pursue  one  object  without  interruption  I  remember  a 

beautiful  expression  of  Patty  Smith's,  after  describing  a  visit 
at  Mr.  Wilberforce's.  "  To  know  him,"  she  said,  all  he  is, 
and  to  see  him  with  such  lively  childish  spirits,  one  need  not 
say,  '  God  bless  him ! '  —  he  seems  already  in  the  fulness  of 
every  earthly  gift."  ....  Of  all  men,  there  seems  most  need 
to  say,  "  God  bless  poor  Coleridge  ! "  One  could  almost  be- 
lieve that  an  enchanter's  spell  was  upon  him,  forcing  him  to 
be  what  he  is,  and  yet  leaving  him  the  power  of  showing  what 
he  might  be. 

.  •  •  •  • 

in  short-hand,  but  the  notes  of  all  excepting  the  first,  second,  sixth,  seventh, 
eighth,  ninth,  and  twelfth  were  lost.    Those  notes  which  were  preserved  were 

ublished  in  1856:  "  Seven  Lectures  on  Shakespeare  and  Milton.    By  the  late 

.  T.  Coleridge."    By  J.  P.  Collier,  Esq. 


224    EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


December  9tli.  —  Accompanied  Mrs.  Rough  to  Coleridge's 
seventh  and  incomparably  best  lecture.  He  declaimed  with 
great  eloquence  about  love,  without  wandering  from  his  sub- 
ject, "  Romeo  and  Juliet."  He  was  spirited,  methodical,  and, 
for  the  greater  part,  intelligible,  though  profound.  Drew  up 
for  the  Morning  Chronicle  a  hasty  report,  which  was  inserted. 

lOtli.  —  Miss  Lamb  dined  with  us.  In  the  evening  Charles 
Lamb,  Manning,  and  Mrs.  Fenwick.  A  pleasant  evening. 
Lamb  spoke  well  about  Shakespeare.  I  had  objected  to  Cole- 
ridge's assertion,  that  Shakespeare,  as  it  were,  identified  him- 
self with  everything  except  the  vicious  ;  and  I  observed  that 
if  Shakespeare's  becoming  a  character  is  to  be  determined  by 
the  truth  and  vivacity  of  his  delineation,  he  had  become  some 
of  the  vicious  characters  as  well  as  the  virtuous.  Lamb  justi- 
fied Coleridge's  remark,  by  saying  that  Shakespeare  never  gives 
characters  wholly  odious  and  detestable.  I  adduced  the  King 
in  "  Hamlet  "  as  altogether  mean  ;  and  he  allowed  this  to  be 
the  worst  of  Shakespeare's  characters.  He  has  not  another  like 
it.  I  cited  Lady  Macbeth.  "  I  think  this  one  of  Shakespeare's 
worst  characters,"  said  Lamb.  It  is  also  inconsistent  with 
itself.  Her  sleep-walking  does  not  suit  so  hardened  a  being." 
It  occurs  to  me,  however,  that  this  very  sleep-walking  is,  per- 
haps, the  vindication  of  Shakespeare's  portraiture  of  the  char- 
acter, as  thereby  the  honor  of  human  nature,  if  I  may  use  the 
expression,  is  saved.  The  voluntary  actions  and  sentiments  of 
Lady  Macbeth  are  all  inhuman,  but  her  involuntary  nature  rises 
up  against  her  habitual  feelings,  which  sprang  out  of  depraved 
passions.  Hence,  though  while  awake  she  is  a  monster,  she 
is  a  woman  in  her  sleep.    I  then  referred  to  the  Bastard  in 

Lear,"  but  Lamb  considered  his  character  as  the  result  of 
provocation  on  account  of  his  illegitimacy.  Lamb  mentioned 
lago  and  Richard  III.  as  admirable  illustrations  of  the  skill 
with  which  Shakespeare  could  make  his  worst  characters  inter- 
esting. I  noticed  King  John  and  Lewis,  as  if  Shakespeare 
meant,  like  a  Jacobin,  to  show  how  base  kings  are.  Lamb  did 
not  remark  on  this,  but  said,  "  *  King  John '  is  one  of  the  plays 
I  like  least."    He  praised    Richard  II." 

December  11th,  —  In  the  evening  with  Lamb  at  tea.  An 
hour's  call  on  Parkin.  I  was  sorry  to  find  that  he  was  hurt  by 
my  mode  of  replying  to  him  last  Friday  at  the  Academical 
Society.  He  thought  that,  though  I  spoke  of  him  in  words 
very  handsomely,  there  was  yet  in  my  manner  something  which 
implied  a  want  of  moral  esteem.    I  believe  I  satisfied  him  of 


1811.] 


COLERIDGE'S  LECTURES. 


225 


his  mistake ;  but  I  know  my  easily  besetting  sin,  of  uncon- 
sciously assuming  an  offensive  tone  on  such  occasions,  and  I 
will,  if  possible,  be  on  my  guard  that  my  manner  may  not 
give  pain  when  what  I  say  is  substantially  innocent.  Parkin 
mentioned  that,  in  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Eclectic  Review, 
Coleridge  had  declared  his  adherence  to  the  principles  of  Bull 
and  Waterland.  There  are,  I  know,  some  persons  who  deem 
Coleridge  hardly  sincere  ;  I  believe  him  to  be  only  inconsistent. 
I  certainly  am  altogether  unable  to  reconcile  his  metaphysical 
and  empirico-religious  opinions. 

December  12th.  —  Tea  with  Mrs.  Flaxman,  who  accompanied 
me  to  Coleridge's  lecture.  He  unhappily  relapsed  into  his 
desultory  habit,  and  delivered,  I  think,  his  worst  lecture.  He 
began  with  identifying  religion  wdth  love,  delivered  a  rhapsody 
on  brotherly  and  sisterly  love,  which  seduced  him  into  a  dis- 
sertation on  incest.  I  at  last  lost  all  power  of  attending  to 
him. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  Mrs.  Clarkson. 

56  Hattox  Garden,  November  29, 1811. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  Of  course  you  have  already  heard  of 
the  lectures  on  poetry  which  Coleridge  is  now  delivering,  and 
I  fear  have  begun  to  think  me  inattentive  in  not  sending  you 
some  account  of  them.  Yesterday  he  delivered  the  fourth,  and 
I  could  not  before  form  anything  like  an  opinion  of  the  proba- 
ble result.  Indeed,  it  is  hardly  otherwise  now  with  me,  but 
were  I  to  wait  till  I  could  form  a  judgment,  the  very  subject 
itself  might  escape  from  observation.  He  has  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  hearers  on  an  average.  The  lectures  have  been 
brilliant,  that  is,  in  passages  ;  but  I  doubt  much  his  capacity 
to  render  them  popular.  Or  rather,  I  should  say,  I  doubt  any 
man's  power  to  render  a  system  of  philosophy  popular  which 
supposes  so  much  unusual  attention  and  rare  faculties  of  think- 
ing even  in  the  hearer.  The  majority  of  what  are  called  sen- 
sible and  thinking  men  have,  to  borrow  a  phrase  from  Cole- 
ridge, "  the  passion  of  clear  ideas " ;  and  as  all  poets  have  a 
very  opposite  passion,  —  that  of  warm  feelings  and  delight  in 
musing  over  conceptions  and  imaginings  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  analytic  faculty,  —  no  wonder  there  is  a  sort  of  natural 
hostility  between  these  classes  of  minds.  This  will  ever  be  a 
bar  to  Coleridge's  extensive  popularity.  Besides  which,  he  has 
certain  unfortunate  habits,  which  he  will  not  (perhaps  cannot) 
correct,  very  detrimental  to  his  interests,  —  I  mean  the  vices 

10*  o 


226     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 

of  apologizing,  anticipating,  and  repeating.  We  have  had 
four  lectures,  and  are  still  in  the  Prolegomena  to  the  Shake- 
spearian drama.  When  we  are  to  begin  Milton,  I  have  no  idea. 
With  all  these  defects,  there  will  always  be  a  small  circle  who 
will  listen  with  delight  to  his  eloquent  effusions  (for  that  is  the 
appropriate  expression).  I  have  not  missed  a  lecture,  and  have 
each  time  left  the  room  with  the  satisfaction  which  the  heark- 
ening to  the  display  of  truth  in  a  beautiful  form  always  gives. 
I  have  a  German  friend  who  attends  also,  and  who  is  delighted 
to  find  the  logic  and  the  rhetoric  of  his  country  delivered  in  a 
foreign  language.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Coleridge's  mind  is 
much  more  German  than  English.  My  friend  has  pointed  out 
striking  analogies  between  Coleridge  and  German  authors  whom 
Coleridge  has  never  seen  

H.  C.  K.  TO  Mrs.  Clarkson. 

56  Hatton  Garden,  December  13,  1811. 

My  dear  Friend  :  — 

....  Yesterday  I  should  have  been  able  to  send  you  a  far 
more  pleasant  letter  than  I  can  possibly  furnish  you  with  now ; 
for  I  should  then  have  had  to  speak  of  one  of  the  most  grati- 
fying and  delightful  exertions  of  Coleridge's  mind  on  Monday 
last  ]  and  now  I  am  both  pained  and  provoked  by  as  unworthy 
a  sequel  to  his  preceding  lecture.  And  you  know  it  is  a  law  of 
our  nature, 

"  As  high  as  we  have  mounted  in  delight, 
In  om-  dejection  do  we  sink  as  low." 

You  have  so  beautifully  and  exactly  expressed  the  senti- 
ment that  every  considerate  and  kind  observer  of  your  friend 
must  entertain,  that  it  is  quite  needless  to  give  you  any  ac- 
count of  his  lectures  with  a  view  to  direct  any  judgment  you 
might  wish  to  form,  or  any  feeling  you  might  be  disposed  to 
encourage.  You  will,  I  am  sure,  anticipate  the  way  in  which 
he  will  execute  his  lectures.  As  evidences  of  splendid  talent, 
original  thought,  and  rare  powers  of  expression  and  fancy,  they 
are  all  his  admirers  can  wish ;  but  as  a  discharge  of  his  under- 
taking, a  fulfilment  of  his  promise  to  the  public,  they  give  his 
friends  great  uneasiness.  As  you  express  it,  an  enchanter's 
spell  seems  to  be  upon  him,"  which  takes  from  him  the  power 
of  treating  upon  the  only  subject  his  hearers  are  anxious  he 
should  consider,  while  it  leaves  him  infinite  ability  to  riot  and 
run  wild  on  a  variety  of  moral  and  religious  themes.  In  his 
sixth  lecture  he  was,  by  advertisement,  to  speak  of Romeo 


1811.] 


COLERIDGE'S  LECTURES. 


227 


and  Juliet and  Shakespeare's  females  ;  unhappily,  some  de- 
mon whispered  the  name  of  Lancaster  in  his  ear  :  and  we  had, 
in  one  evening,  an  attack  on  the  poor  Quaker,  a  defence  of 
boarding-school  flogging,  a  parallel  between  the  ages  of  Eliza- 
beth and  Charles,  a  defence  of  what  is  untruly  called  unpoetic 
language,  an  account  of  the  different  languages  of  Europe,  and 
a  vindication  of  Shakespeare  against  the  imputation  of  gToss- 
ness !  !  !  I  suspect  he  did  discover  that  offence  was  taken  at 
this,  for  his  succeeding  lecture  on  Monday  was  all  w^e  could 
wish.  He  confined  himself  to  "  Romeo  and  Juliet "  for  a  time, 
treated  of  the  inferior  characters,  and  delivered  a  most  elo- 
quent discourse  on  love,  with  a  promise  to  point  out  how 
Shakespeare  had  shown  the  same  truths  in  the  persons  of  the 
lovers.  Yesterday  we  were  to  have  a  continuation  of  the 
theme.  Alas !  Coleridge  began  with  a  parallel  between  re- 
ligion and  love,  which,  though  one  of  his  favorite  themes,  he 
did  not  manage  successfully.  Romeo  and  Juliet  were  forgot- 
ten. And  in  the  next  lecture  we  are  really  to  hear  something 
of  these  lovers.  Now  this  will  be  the  fourth  time  that  his  hear- 
ers have  been  invited  expressly  to  hear  of  this  play.  There 
are  to  be  only  fifteen  lectures  altogether  (half  have  been  de- 
livered), and  the  course  is  to  include  Shakespeare  and  Mil- 
ton, the  modern  poets,  &c.  ! !  !  Instead  of  a  lecture  on  a 
definite  subject,  we  have  an  immethodical  rhapsody,  very  de- 
lightful to  you  and  me,  and  only  offensive  from  the  certainty 
that  it  may  and  ought  to  offend  those  who  come  with  other 
expectations.  Yet,  with  all  this,  I  cannot  but  be  charmed 
with  these  splendida  vitia,  and  my  chief  displeasure  is  oc- 
casioned by  my  being  forced  to  hear  the  strictures  of  persons 
mfinitely  below  Coleridge,  without  any  power  of  refuting  or 
contradicting  them.  Yet  it  is  lucky  he  has  hitherto  omitted 
no  lecture.  Living  with  the  Morgans,  they  force  him  to  come 
with  them  to  the  lecture-room,  and  this  is  a  great  point 
gained  

December  15tli.  —  Called  on  Godwin,  who  thinks  Coleridge's 
lectures  far  below  his  conversation.  So  far  from  agreeing  with 
Coleridge,  that  Shakespeare's  plays  ought  only  to  be  read  and 
not  acted,  Godwin  said  :  "  No  plays  but  Shakespeare's  deserve 
to  be  represented,  so  admirably  fitted  are  his  for  performance." 

IStli,  —  Took  Miss  Flaxman  to  Coleridge's  lecture.  Very 
desultory  again  at  first,  but  when  about  half-way  through,  he 
bethought  himself  of  Shakespeare  j  and  though  he  forgot  at 


228     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


last  what  we  had  been  four  times  in  succession  to  hear,  viz. 
of  Romeo  and  Juliet  as  lovers,  yet  he  treated  beautifully  of  the 
"  Tempest,"  and  especially  Prospero,  Miranda,  Ariel,  and  Cali- 
ban.   This  part  most  excellent. 

Christmas  day  (at  Royston).  —  A  very  agreeable  tete-a-tete 
walk  with  Mr.  Nash,  Sen.,  round  his  farm.  I  enjoyed  his  so- 
ciety with  more  relish,  probably,  than  I  ever  shall  again. 
He  is  getting  old,  though,  excepting  in  the  decline  of  his  mem- 
ory, there  are  no  traces  yet  of  bodily  infirmity.  Sometimes, 
however,  the  effects  of  old  age  throw  a  tender  grace  over  men 
of  his  amiable  and  excellent  character.  In  his  youth  he  was  a 
Methodist,  and  he  was  industrious,  patient,  abstinent,  capable 
of  continuous  labor,  mental  and  bodily.  His  education  was 
not  of  a  superior  kind,  but  he  had  the  advantage  of  great  per- 
sonal beauty,  as  well  as  ability  in  business.  He  was  brought 
up  to  the  law,  and  had  offers  of  a  partnership  in  London  ;  but 
these  he  declined,  because  he  saw  practices  of  which  his  con- 
science disapproved.  Marrying  early,  he  settled  down  as  a 
country  practitioner.  In  religious  opinions  he  became  a  Uni- 
tarian, and  Robert  Robinson*  was  the  object  of  his  admira- 
tion. His  single  publication,  in  which  he  called  himself  A 
Country  Attorney,"  was  one  of  the  hundred  and  one  answers 
to  Burke  on  the  French  Revolution.  His  life  was  prosperous, 
and  alike  honorable  to  himself  and,  within  his  limited  sphere, 
useful  to  others.  The  latter  days  of  a  good  man  are  not  a  mel- 
ancholy object,  even  when  one  thinks  that  his  moral  and  intel- 
lectual qualities  might  have  been  more  advantageously  em- 
ployed in  a  wider  fiefd.  This  alone  renders  departing  excellence 
a  subject  of  melancholy  observation.! 

December  28th.  —  A  gossip  with  E.  till  late.  He  related  a 
curious  Quaker  anecdote,  which  suggests  a  law  question.  One 
friend,  a  merchant,  proposes  to  another,  an  underwriter,  to  in- 
sure his  ship,  lost  or  not  lost,  which  ought  soon  to  arrive. 
The  underwriter  hesitates,  takes  the  policy  home,  and  says, 
"  I  will  return  it  to-morrow,  signed  or  unsigned."  Early  in  the 
morning  the  merchant  receives  intelligence  of  the  loss  of  his 
vessel.  He  knows  his  religious  brother,  and  sends  a  clerk 
(who  is  ignorant  of  the  loss)  to  say,  "  Neighbor  A.  informs 

*  An  eminent  Dissenting  Minister  of  Cambridge.  Born  1735.  Died  1790. 
His  immediate  successor  was  the  Rev.  Robert  Hall. 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Robert  Ro1)inson  were  written  by 
George  Dyer.  This  biography  was  pronounced  by  Wordsworth  to  be  one  of 
the  best  in  the  English  language.    See  also  p.  101. 

t  See  ante^  pp.  23,  188. 


1811.]         DETERMINATION  TO  STUDY  FOR  THE  BAR. 


229 


thee  that  if  thou  hast  not  underwritten,  thou  needest  not  do 
it."  The  underwriter  draws  the  inference  that  the  vessel  is 
safe.  He  has  not  actually  signed,  but,  pretending  to  look  for 
the  policy,  contrives  to  sign  it  by  stealth,  and  says  to  the 
clerk,  "  Tell  thy  master  I  had  signed."  E.  assured  me  that 
this  was  a  real  occurrence. 

December  30th.  —  Attended  Coleridge's  lecture,  in  which  he 
kept  to  his  subject.  He  intimated  to  me  his  intention  to  de- 
liver two  lectures  on  Milton.  As  he  had  written  to  me  about 
his  dilemma,  having  so  much  to  do  in  so  little  time,  I  gently 
hinted  in  my  reply  at  his  frequent  digressions,  —  those  spleii- 
dida  peccata  which  his  friends  best  apologized  for  by  laying 
the  emphasis  on  the  adjective. 

December  31st  —  In  the  evening  at  a  very  pleasant  party  at 
Flaxman's.  A  Mrs.  Wilkinson  there  with  her  son,  a  most 
interesting  young  man,  with  one  of  those  expressive  counte- 
nances which  imply  intellect  and  heart  alike.  Flaxman  ad- 
mires him  much,  and  says  he  would  prefer  him  as  a  son  to 
all  the  young  men  he  ever  saw. 

Rem,^  —  Closed  the  year  most  agreeably,  in  the  act,  I  be- 
lieve, of  repeating  to  Mr.  Flaxman  Charles  Lamb's  prologue 
to  "  Mr.  H."  The  society  I  beheld  at  the  dawn  of  the  New 
Year  consisted  of  people  possessing  as  high  moral  and  intel- 
lectual excellences  combined  as  are  to  be  found  in  this  great 
city. 

I  had  now  made  up  my  mind  to  study  for  the  bar.  This 
resolution  was  formed  through  an  apparently  insignificant  oc- 
currence. It  was  on  the  1st  of  March,  when  my  sister  (who 
with  my  brother  had  been  on  a  visit  to  London)  was  about  to 
leave,  that  Mr.  Collier  received  an  application  from  York  to 
send  down  a  reporter  for  the  State  Trials  there.  He  requested 
me  to  go,  but  I  declined  on  the  ground  of  the  objection  taken 
to  reporters  being  called  to  the  bar.  Speaking  of  this  to  my 
sister,t  she  said  :  ^'  For  a  man  who  has  the  repute  of  having 
sense,  you  act  very  like  a  fool.  You  decline  reporting  because 
that  might  be  an  obstacle  to  your  being  called  to  the  bar,  and 
yet  you  take  no  steps  towards  being  called  to  the  bar.  Nov/, 
do  one  or  the  other.  Either  take  to  newspaper  employment, 
or  study  the  law  at  once,  and  lose  no  more  time."  There  was 
no  reply  to  such  a  remonstrance.  On  the  Sunday  following,  I 
went  to  Amyot  to  consult  with  him.  There  was  then  visiting 
him  a  Norwich  attorney,  Mr.  Adam  Taylor,  who  strongly  ad- 


*  Written  in  1849. 


t  Mrs.  Thomas  Robinson. 


230     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


vised  me  to  go  the  bar,  adding,  "  There  is  an  opening  on  the 
Norfolk  circuit.  I  am  sure  you  would  succeed.  You  shall 
have  such  business,  as  I  have,  and  as  I  can  obtain."  It  was 
this  that  more  than  anything  determined  me.  My  old  ac- 
quaintance, Walter  Wright,  my  new  acquaintance,  Sergeant 
Eough,  and  my  friend  Anthony  Robinson,*  all  supported  me 
in  the  resolution ;  but  perhaps  they  all  feel  as  Benvenuto  Cel- 
lini felt  on  a  similar  occasion  :  "  Have  you,  my  lord,  really 
bought  the  picture,  or  do  you  only  think  of  buying  itV^  — 
*^  What  has  that  to  do  with  your  opinion,  Cellini  V  —  "A 
great  deal.  If  you  have  really  bought  the  picture,  then  I  have 
only  to  make  such  remarks  as  will  render  you  satisfied  with 
your  bargain  ;  but  if  you  are  only  thinking  of  buying  it,  then 
it  is  my  duty  to  tell  you  my  real  opinion." 

H.  C.  E.  TO  HIS  Brother. 

56  Hatton  Garden,  14th  March,  1811. 
Dear  Thomas,  —  I  have  at  length  (after  hesitating  only 
from  twelve  to  thirteen  years)  made  up  my  mind  to  abandon 
all  my  hobby-horsical  and  vain,  idle,  and  empty  literary  pur- 
suits, and  devote  myself  to  the  law.  It  is  now  ten  days  since 
I  have  given  words  and  form  to  this  determination,  which  an 
accident  after  all  has  occasioned  me  to  make.  My  sister,  per- 
haps, told  you  of  a  proposal  Mr.  Collier  made  me,  that  I  should 
go  to  York  to  transact  a  business  which  certainly  would  not 
agree  with  the  professional  character.  But  my  sister  did  not 
tell  you,  because  she  was  not  herself  aware  of  the  fact,  that  it 
was  a  simple  sentence  which  dropped  from  her,  which  made  me 
sensible  (more  strongly  than  I  had  ever  been  before)  of  the  ex- 
treme folly  of  my  conduct.  As  we  were  walking  down  to  the 
Inn  on  Saturday  morning  she  said  :  "  There  is  something  very 
inconsistent  in  your  behavior.    You  refuse  a  profitable  job, 

*  Anthony  Robinson  (born  in  1762)  was  originally  brought  up  in  connection 
■with  the  EstabHshed  Church;  but,  changing  his  opinions,  was  educated  at 
Bristol  for  the  Dissenting  ministry.  Robert  Hall  was  one  of  his  fellow-students. 
He  did  not  long  remain  in  the  ministry,  but  entered  into  business  as  a  sugar- 
refiner,  in  which  he  continued  till  his  death.  Though,  however,  he  professed 
to  be  merely  a  tradesman,  he  yet  retained  a  lively  interest  in  social  and  religious 
questions,  and  was  a  steady  and  active  supporter  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
He  published  several  pamphlets  and  articles  in  reviews.  Among  the  former 
was  an  able  examination  of  Robert  HalFs  celebrated  "  Sermon  on  Modern 
Infidelity."  H.  C.  R.  said  of  him:  "  As  I  scarcely  ever  knew  Anthony  Robin- 
son's equal  in  colloquial  eloquence,  in  acuteness  and  skill,  and  promptitude  in 
debate,  so  I  never  knew  his  superior  in  candor  and  sincerity."  Between  H.  C.  R. 
and  his  friend  there  was  no  relationship,  though  they  have  the  same  surname. 


1811.] 


"AMATONDA." 


231 


because  it  is  incompatible  with  the  character  of  a  ban-ister, 
and  yet  you  cannot  be  made  to  open  a  law-book.  Now,  you 
ought  to  do  one  or  the  other.    Make  up  your  mind  at  least." 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

H.  C.  E. 

In  the  spring,  and  just  before  I  was  induced  seriously  to 
prepare  for  being  called  to  the  bar,  I  translated  "  Amatonda,'' 
a  fairy  tale  by  Anton  Wall.*  I  have  already  given  some  ac- 
count of  the  work  itself  f  My  translation  was  published  by 
Longman,  but  I  believe  fell  dead  from  the  press.  None  but 
friends  ever  praised  it.  I  have  a  letter  of  praise  from  Cole- 
ridge. And  Lamb  at  least  liked  the  translations  from  Jean 
Paul  (at  the  end),  which  were,  I  believe,  the  first  translations 
from  Jean  Paul  into  English.  He  said  they  were  the  finest 
things  he  ever  saw  from  the  German  language.  The  book,  so 
far  as  I  know,  was  never  reviewed,  and  I  obtained  no  credit 
for  my  work.  Perhaps  happily,  for  it  was  the  failure  of  my 
attempt  to  gain  distinction  by  writing  that  made  me  willing  to 
devote  myself  honestly  to  the  law,  and  so  saved  me  from  the 
mortification  that  follows  a  little  literary  success,  by  which 
many  men  of  inferior  faculties,  like  myself,  have  been  be- 
trayed into  an  unwise  adoption  of  literature  as  a  profession, 
which  after  this  year  I  never  once  thought  of. 

Coleridge  to  H.  C.  R. 

I  have  to  thank  you,  my  dear  Robinson,  for  the  pleasure  I 
have  enjoyed  in  the  perusal  of  Anton  Wall's  delightful  tale.  I 
read  it  first  with  my  eyes  only,  and  only  to  myself ;  but  the 
second  time  aloud  to  two  amiable  women.  Both  times  I  felt 
myself  in  the  embrace  of  the  fairy  Amatonda.  The  German 
critic  has  noticed  as  a  defect  and  an  oversight  what  I  regard  as 
one  of  the  capital  beauties  of  the  work,  and  thus  convinced 
me  that  for  reviewers  the  world  over,  and  for  readers  whose 
intellects  are  commensurate  with  theirs,  an  author  must  write 

under  his  best  conceptions  I  recollect  no  fairy  tale  with 

so  just  and  fine  a  moral  as  this  of  Anton  Wall's.  Virtue 
itself,  though  joined  with  outward  competence,  cannot  give 
that  happiness  which  contents  the  human  heart,  without  love  ; 

*  "Amatonda."    A  Tale  from  the  German  of  Anton  Wall.  London: 
Printed  for  Longman,  Hurst,  Rees,  Orme,  and  Brown.  1811. 
t  See  awie,  pp.  104,  105. 


232     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENHY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 


but  love  is  impossible  without  virtue,  —  love,  true  human  love, 
—  i.  e.  two  hearts,  like  two  correspondent  concave  mirrors 
having  a  common  focus,  while  each  reflects  and  magnifies  the 
other,  and  in  the  other  itself  is  an  endless  reduplication  by 
sweet  thoughts  and  sympathies. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Hassan's  love  for  Amina  is  beautifully  described  as  having 
had  a  foundation  from  early  childhood.  And  this  I  many 
years  ago  planned  as  the  subject-matter  of  a  poem,  viz.  long 
and  deep  aifections  suddenly,  in  one  moment,  flash-transmuted 
into  love.  In  short,  I  believe  that  love  (as  distinguished  both 
from  lust  and  that  habitual  attachment  which  may  include 
many  objects  diversifying  itself  by  degrees  only),  that  that  feel- 
ing (or  whatever  it  may  be  more  aptly  called),  that  specific 
mode  of  being,  which  one  object  only  can  possess,  and  possess 
totally,  is  always  the  abrupt  creation  of  a  moment,  though 
years  of  dawning  may  have  preceded.  I  said  dawning^  for  often 
as  I  have  watched  the  sun  rising  from  the  thinning,  diluting 
blue  to  the  whitening,  to  the  fawn-colored,  the  pink,  the  crim- 
son, the  glory,  yet  still  the  sun  itself  has  always  started  up 
out  of  the  horizon  !  Between  the  brightest  hues  of  the  dawn- 
ing, and  the  first  rim  of  the  sun  itself,  there  is  a  chasm,  —  all 
before  were  differences  of  degrees,  passing  and  dissolving  into 
each  other,  —  but  this  is  a  difference  of  kind,  —  a  chasm  of 
kind  in  a  continuity  of  time ;  and  as  no  man  who  had  never 
watched  for  the  rise  of  the  sun  could  understand  what  I  mean, 
so  can  no  man  who  has  not  been  in  love  understand  what  love 
is,  though  he  will  be  sure  to  imagine  and  believe  that  he  does. 

Thus,  is  by  nature  incapable  of  being  in  love,  though 

no  man  more  tenderly  attached ;  hence  he  ridicules  the  exist- 
ence of  any  other  passion  than  a  compound  of  lust  with 
esteem  and  friendship,  confined  to  one  object,  first  by  accidents 
of  association,  and  permanently  by  the  force  of  habit  and  a 
sense  of  duty.  Now  this  will  do  very  well,  —  it  will  suffice  to 
make  a  good  husband ;  it  may  be  even  desirable  (if  the  largest 
sum  of  easy  and  pleasurable  sensations  in  this  life  be  the  right 
aim  and  end  of  human  wisdom)  that  we  should  have  this,  and 
no  more,  —  but  still  it  is  not  love,  —  and  there  is  such  a  passion 
as  love,  —  which  is  no  more  a  compound  than  oxygen,  though 
like  oxygen  it  has  an  almost  universal  affinity,  and  a  long  and 
finely  graduated  scale  of  elective  attractions.  It  combines 
with  lust,  —  but  how  ]  Does  lust  call  forth  or  occasion  love  ] 
Just  as  much  as  the  reek  of  the  marsh  calls  up  the  sun.  The 


1811.] 


LETTER  FROM  COLERIDGE. 


233 


sun  calls  up  the  vapor,  —  attenuates,  lifts  it,  —  it  becomes  a 
cloud,  —  and  now  it  is  the  veil  of  the  divinity  ;  the  divinity, 
transpiercing  it  at  once,  hides  and  declares  his  presence.  Vfe 
see,  we  are  conscious  of  li(/ht  alone  ;  but  it  is  light  embodied 
in  the  earthly  nature,  which  that  light  itself  awoke  and  subli- 
mated. What  is  the  body  but  the  fixture  of  the  mind,  —  the 
stereotype  impression  1  Arbitrary  are  the  symbols,  —  yet  sym- 
bols they  are.  Is  terror  in  my  soul  1  —  my  heart  beats  against 
my  side.  Is  grief?  —  tears  pour  in  my  eyes.  In  her  homely 
way,  the  body  tries  to  interpret  all  the  movements  of  the  soul. 
Shall  it  not,  then,  imitate  and  symbolize  that  divinest  move- 
ment of  a  finite  spirit,  —  the  yearning  to  complete  itself  by 
union  1  Is  there  not  a  sex  in  souls  1  We  havg  all  eyes,  cheeks, 
lips,  —  but  in  a  lovely  woman  are  not  the  eyes  womanly,  — 
yea,  every  form,  in  every  motion  of  her  whole  frame,  womanly  ? 
Were  there  not  an  identity  in  the  substance,  man  and  woman 
might  join,  but  they  could  never  unify ;  were  there  not 
throughout,  in  body  and  in  soul,  a  corresponding  and  adapted 
difference,  there  might  be  addition,  but  there  could  be  no  com- 
bination. 1  and  1  =  2;  but  1  cannot  be  multiplied  into  1  : 
1X1  =  1-  best,  it  would  be  an  idle  echo,  the  same 
thing  needlessly  repeated,  as  the  idiot  told  the  clock,  —  one, 
one,  one,  one,  &c. 

It  has  just  come  into  my  head  that  this  scrawl  is  very 
much  in  the  style  of  Jean  Paul.  I  have  not,  however,  as  yet 
looked  into  the  books  you  were  so  kind  as  to  leave  with  me, 
further  than  to  see  the  title-page.  If  you  do  not  want  them 
for  some  time,  I  should  be  glad  to  keep  them  by  me,  while  I 
read  the  original  works  themselves.  I  pray  you  procure  them 
for  me  week  by  week,  and  I  will  promise  you  most  carefully  to 
return  them,  you  allowing  me  three  days  for  two  volumes.  I 
am  very  anxious  to  have  them,  and  shall  fill  one  volume  of  the 
Omniana "  with  the  extracts,  quoting  your  criticism  as  my 
introduction  :  only,  instead  of  the  shelves  or  steps,  I  must  put 
the  ladder  of  a  library,  or  whatever  name  those  movable 
steps  are  called  which  one  meets  with  in  all  well-furnished 
libraries. 

I  have  been  extremely  unwell,  though  rather  better.  George 
Burnet's  *  death  told  too  abruptly,  and,  in  truth,  exaggerated, 

*  George  Burnet  was  a  very  early  friend  of  Coleridge;  he  joined  with  him, 
Southey,  and  Lovell  in  the  scheme  for  emigrating  to  America,  and  there 
forming  a  colony,  to  be  called  a  Pantisocracy,the  main  principle  of  which  was 
a  community  of  goods,  and  where  selfishness  was  to  be  proscribed. 


234    EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  14. 

overset  my  dear,  most  dear,  and  most  excellent  friend  and 
heart's  sister,  Mary  Lamb,  —  and  her  illness  has  almost  over- 
set me.  Troubles,  God  knows  !  have  thronged  upon  me,  — 
alas !  alas !  all  my  dearest  friends  I  have  of  late  either 
suffered  from^  or  suffered  for.  'T  is  a  cruel  sort  of  world  w^e 
live  in.    God  bless  you 

And  yours,  with  affectionate  esteem, 

.  S.  T.  Coleridge. 

Southampton  Buildings. 
P.  S.  I  began  with  the  scrap  of  paper,  meaning  only  to  wTite 
half  a  score  lines,  and  now  I  have  written  enough  for  half  a 
dozen  letters  *  unnecessarily,  when  to  have  written  to  half  a 
dozen  claimants  is  a  moral  (would  it  were  a  physical)  necessity. 
But  moral  obligation  is  to  me  so  very  strong  a  stimulant,  that 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  acts  as  a  narcotic.  The  blow  that 
should  rouse  stuns  me. 

[Though  Mr.  Eobinson  was  never  married,  some  of  his 
friends  occasionally  volunteered  their  advice  to  him  on  the 
subject  of  matrimony.  A  letter  containing  such  advice  belongs 
to  this  year,  and  may  be  inserted  here.  —  Ed.] 

Capel  Lofft  to  H.  C.  R. 

Octobers,  1811. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Perhaps  one  man  ought  never  to  advise  an- 
other, unasked ;  especially  when  that  other  is  probably  better 
able  to  advise  himself  I  do,  how^ever,  advise  you,  if  ever  you 
marry,  never  (as  a  man  of  feeling,  and  who  loves  literature,  and 
liberty,  and  science)  to  marry  a  woman  of  what  is  called  a 
strong  mind.  The  love  of  dominion  and  the  whirlwind  of 
instability  are,  I  fear,  inseparable  from  a  female  mind  of  that 
character.  All  women  and  all  beings  love  power ;  but  a  woman 
of  a  mild  and  compliant  mind  seeks  and  maintains  power  by 
correspondent  means.  These  are  not  called  strong  minds.  No 
matter,  if  they  are  mild,  and  modest,  and  delicate,  and  sympa- 
thizing minds,  such  as  the  Julie  of  Eousseau,  the  Alcestis  of 
Euripides,  the  Antigone  of  Sophocles,  and  the  Eve  of  Milton. 
Hence  every  w^oman  should  be  a  lover  of  music,  —  and  of  femi- 
nine music ;  and  particularly  of  the  vocal.  And  in  that  she 
should  cultivate  the  soft,  the  low,  and  the  sweet.    ^'  Her  voice 

*  The  beginning  of  the  letter  is  on  a  scrap,  after  filling  which  the  writer 

took  a  sheet  of  foolscap. 


1812.] 


LETTER  TO  MRS.  CLARKSON. 


235 


was  ever  low,  gentle,  and  sweet ;  an  excellent  thing  in  woman," 
says  that  great  depicter  of  character,  and  particularly  of  wo- 
men, who  has  so  exquisitely  imagined  and  delineated  Miranda, 
Viola,  Ophelia,  Desdemona,  Cordelia,  Helena. 

I  am, 

Yours,  (fee. 

Capel  Lofft. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
1812. 

H.  C.  R.  TO  Mrs.  Clarkson. 

56  Hatton  Garden,  3d  January,  1812. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND,  —  I  received  your  letter  last  night, 
and  will  write  the  answer  immediately,  though  I  cannot 
forward  it  till  I  have  seen  your  brother  for  your  address.  I  have 
a  better,  much  better,  account  to  give  of  Coleridge's  lectures  than 
formerly.  His  last  three  lectures  have,  for  the  greater  part,  been 
all  that  his  friends  could  wish,  —  his  admirers  expect.  Your 
sister  heard  the  two  last,  and  from  her  you  will  learn  much 
more  than  I  could  put  into  a  letter,  had  I  all  the  leisure  I  now 
want,  or  the  memory  I  never  had.  His  disquisitions  on  the 
characters  of  Richard  III.,  lago,  FalstafF,  were  full  of  paradox, 
but  very  ingenious,  and  in  the  main  true.  His  remarks  on 
Richard  11.  and  Hamlet  very  excellent.  Last  night  he  con- 
cluded his  fine  development  of  the  Prince  of  Denmark  by  an 
eloquent  statement  of  the  moral  of  the  play.  Action,"  he 
said,  "  is  the  great  end  of  all ;  no  intellect,  however  grand,  is 
valuable,  if  it  draw  us  from  action  and  lead  us  to  think  and 
think  till  the  time  of  action  is  passed  by,  and  we  can  do  noth- 
ing." Somebody  said  to  me,  "  This  is  a  satire  on  himself."  — 
"  No,"  said  I,  "  it  is  an  elegy."  A  great  many  of  his  remarks 
on  Hamlet  were  capable  of  a  like  application.  I  should  add 
that  he  means  to  deliver  several  lectures  beyond  the  promised 
number.  This  will  gain  him  credit  in  the  City  sense  of  the 
word  ;  and  for  the  sake  of  his  future  success  in  lecturing,  I  am 
very  glad  he  is  thus  prudent. 

You  see  I  am  looking  at  the  subject  from  a  very  Ioav  point 
of  view  ;  at  the  same  time  I  am  able  to  place  myself  on  higher 
ground,  and  then  I  lament  equally  with  the  Wordsworths  and 


236     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


yourself  that  such  a  man  should  be  compelled  to  have  recourse 
to  such  means  ;  but,  after  all,  what  is  there  in  this  lamentation 
more  than  a  particular  instance  of  the  general  complaint  of  all 
ages,  that  highmindedness  should  stoop  to  vulgarity,  that  the 
low  wants  of  man  should  drag  down  the  elevated  to  low  pur- 
suits, and  that  the  noblest  powers  of  intellect  should  not  be  ac- 
companied with  meaner  but  indispensable  capacities  * 

January  8ih.  —  Called  on  Mrs.  B.,  who  was  in  much  better 
spirits  than  I  expected  to  find  her.  She  spoke  of  her  father 
with  much  tenderness  and  love,  but  without  violent  emotion. 
I  referred  to  my  own  mother,  and  the  treasure  her  memory  is 
to  me.  Thinking  of  her  and  talking  of  her  are  a  great  delight, 
and  I  said  I  knew  it  would  be  so  also  with  Mrs.  B.  The  joy  is 
great  of  having  had  an  excellent  parent.  This  she  admitted,  and 
seemed  to  feel,  as  if  I  had  touched  the  true  key. 

January  9th,  —  Evening  at  Coleridge's  lecture  on  Johnson's 

Preface."  Though  sometimes  obscure,  his  many  palpable  hits 
must  have  given  general  satisfaction. 

January  ISth.  —  Accompanied  Mrs.  C.  Aikin  to  Coleridge's 
lecture.  A  continuation  of  remarks  on  Johnson's  Preface," 
but  feeble  and  unmeaning  compared  with  the  last.  The  latter 
part  of  the  lecture  very  excellent.  It  was  on  "  Lear,"  in  which 
he  vindicated  the  melancholy  catastrophe,  and  on  "  Othello," 
in  which  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  Othello  is  not  a  jealous 
character. 

January  l^th,  —  Heard  Hazlitt's  first  lecture  on  the  "  His- 
tory of  English  Philosophy."  t  He  seems  to  have  no  concep- 
tion of  the  difference  between  a  lecture  and  a  book.  What  he 
said  was  sensible  and  excellent,  but  he  delivered  himself  in  a 
low  monotonous  voice,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  his  MS.,  not  once 
daring  to  look  at  his  audience ;  and  he  read  so  rapidly  that  no 
one  could  possibly  give  to  the  matter  the  attention  it  required.  % 

Coleridge  was  sadly  annoyed  at  the  necessity  of  appealing  to  the  kindness 
of  fi-iends.  He  repeated  to  me  an  epigram,  of  which  I  recollect  only  the  point: 
"I  fell  asleep,  and  fancied  I  was  surronnded  by  my  friends,  who  made  me 
marvellous  fine  promises.  I  awoke  and  found  these  primises  as  much  a  dream 
as  if  tliey  had  actually  been  made."  — H.  C.  R. 

t  These  lectures  were  delivered  at  the  llussell  Institution. 

}  Hazlitt  had  in  vain  striven  to  become  a  painter.  He  had  obtained  the 
patronage  of  Clarkson,  who  said  he  had  heard  Hazlitt  was  more  able  to  paint 
like  Titian  than  any  living  painter.  Some  one  had  said  that  his  portrait  of 
Lamb  had  a  Titianesque  air  about  it.  And  certainly  this  is  the  only  painting 
by  Hazlitt  I  ever  saw  with  pleasure.  He  made  a  portrait  of  my  brother,  which 
he  knew  to  be  bad,  and  it  was  destroyed.  —  H.  C.  R. 


1812.] 


HAZLITT  AND  COLERIDGE. 


237 


January  15th.  —  Tea  with  the  Lambs.  An  evening  at 
cards.  Hazhtt  there,  much  depressed.  He  seemed  disposed 
to  give  lip  the  lectures  altogether.  The  cause  of  his  read- 
ing so  rapidly  was,  that  he  was  told  to  limit  himself  to  an 
hour,  and  what  he  had  prepared  would  have  taken  three  hours 
if  it  had  been  read  slowly. 

January  16th,  —  At  Coleridge's  lecture.  He  reviewed  John- 
son's Preface,"  and  vindicated  warmly  Milton's  moral  and 
political  character,  but  I  think  with  less  than  his  usual  ability. 
He  excited  a  hiss  once  by  calling  Johnson  a  fellow,  for  which 
he  happily  apologized  by  observing  that  it  is  in  the  nature 
of  evil  to  beget  evil,  and  that  we  are  thus  apt  to  fall  into  the 
fault  we  censure.  He  remarked  on  Milton's  minor  poems,  and 
the  nature  of  blank  verse.  The  latter  half  of  the  lecture  was 
very  good. 

January  17tli,  —  Dinner  at  J.  Buck's.*  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Buck, 
Coleridge,  the  Gores,  Jameson,  and  Aders.f  Coleridge  was 
less  profound  than  usual,  but  exceedingly  agreeable.  He  re- 
lated anecdotes  of  himself.  Once  he  was  arrested  as  a  spy  at 
Fort  St.  George.  The  Governor,  as  soon  as  he  saw  him, 
muttered,  "An  ill-looking  fellow."  At  first  everything  that  Cole- 
ridge could  say  for  himself  was  ingeniously  perverted  and  ap- 
plied against  him ;  ])ut  at  length  a  card  he  accidentally  had  by 
him,  from  a  person  of  quality,  convinced  the  Governor  that  he 
was  a  gentleman,  and  procured  for  him  an  invitation  to  break- 
fast next  morning.  Coleridge  then  took  an  opportunity  of 
asking  the  Governor  what  it  was  in  his  appearance  that  in- 
duced him  to  say,  "  An  ill-looking  fellow."  "  My  dear  sir,"  said 
the  Governor,  squeezing  him  by  the  hand,  I  nearly  lost  my 
sight  in  the  West  Indies,  and  cannot  see  a  yard  before  me." 
At  Bristol,  Coleridge  delivered  lectures  in  conjunction  with 
Southey.  A  fellow  vfho  was  present  hissed  him,  and  an  alter- 
cation ensued.  The  man  sneered  at  him  for  professing  public 
principle,  and  asked,  "Why,  if  you  have  so  much  pubhc  spirit, 
do  you  take  money  at  the  door '? "  —  "  For  a  reason,"  answered 
Coleridge,  "  which  I  am  sorry  in  the  present  instance  has  not 
been  quite  successful, — to  keep  out  blackguards."  In  reference 
to  the  schools  of  Lancaster  and  Bell,  —  a  delicate  subject  in 
such  a  society,  —  Coleridge  contented  himself  with  urging  that 
it  is  unsafe  to  leave  religion  untaught  while  anything  is  taught. 

*  See  ante,  p.  19. 

t  Jameson  and  Aders  were  for  some  time  in  partnership  as  merchants.  Mr. 
Aders  had  a  valuable  collection  of  pictures,  which  are  frequently  referred  to 
in  the  diary,  and  which  were  eventually  sold  by  auction. 


238     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


Eeading  and  writing  must  not  be  supposed  to  be  in  themselves 
education. 

At  ten  went  to  Barron  Field's.*  Charles  Lamb  and  Leigh 
Hunt  there.  I  found  they  had  had  a  discussion  about  Cole- 
ridge, whom  Hunt  had  spoken  of  as  a  bad  writer,  while  Lamb 
thought  him  the  first  man  he  ever  knew.  Lamb,  in  his  droll 
and  extravagant  way,  abused  every  one  who  denied  the  tran- 
scendent merits  of  Coleridge's  writings. 

Januarij  20th.  —  A  day  of  some  importance,  perhaps,  in  its 
consequences.  Sergeant  Rough  introduced  me  to  Mr.  Little- 
dale,!  whose  pupil  I  became  by  presenting  him  with  the  usual 
fee  of  100  guineas,  and  by  entering  at  once  on  my  employment. 

In  the  evening  at  Coleridge's  lecture.  Conclusion  of  Milton. 
Not  one  of  the  happiest  of  Coleridge's  efforts.  Rogers  was 
there,  and  with  him  was  Lord  Byron.  He  was  wrapped  up, 
but  I  recognized  his  club  foot,  and,  indeed,  his  countenance 
and  general  appearance. 

Januari)  21st,  —  Hazlitt's  second  lecture.  His  delivery 
vastly  improved,  and  I  hope  he  will  now  get  on.  He  read  at 
Basil  Montagu's  last  night  half  his  first  lecture.  He  was  to 
read  the  whole,  but  abruptly  broke  off,  and  could  not  be  per- 
suaded to  read  the  remainder.  Lamb  and  other  friends  were 
there.  * 

February  2 1st,  — Tn  the  evening  at  the  Academical  Society. 
Mr.  Sheil  spoke,  who  was  blackballed  lately  after  a  violent 
and  pompous  speech.  His  present  speech  was  sensible  and 
temperate.  Blake,  his  countryman,  watched  over  him  to  keep 
him  in  order.  He  spoke  as  if  he  had  been  fed  for  three  weeks 
on  bread  and  water  in  order  to  be  tamed. 

Eem.X  —  He  was  blackballed  again  on  a  later  occasion. 
What  alone  makes  this  worth  mentioning  is  that  he  who  was 
twice  rejected  by  an  insignificant  society  of  young  men  is  now 
one  of  the  most  popular  and  admired  speakers  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  Right  Honorable  Richard  Lalor  Sheil. 

February  26th. — A  dinner-party.  Coleridge,  Godwin,  &c., 
&c.  The  company  rather  too  numerous.  Coleridge  by  no 
means  the  eloquent  man  he  usually  is.  It  was  not  till  ten 
minutes  before  he  went  away  that  he  fell  into  a  declaiming 
mood ;  *^  having,"  as  Godwin  said,  "  got  upon  the  indefinites 
and  the  infinites,"  viz.  the  nature  of  religious  conviction.  He 

*  Aft'erwards  a  Jud.o^e  in  New  South  Wales,  and  subsequently  at  Gibraltar. 
Some  of  Lamb's  most  amusing  letters  were  written  to  him. 
t  Afterwards  Judge  of  the  Queen's  Bench.  ' 
X  Written  in  1849. 


1812.] 


COLERIDGE'S  CONCLUDING  LECTURE. 


239 


contended  that  the  external  evidence  of  Christianity  would  be 
weak  but  for  the  internal  evidence  arising  out  of  the  necessity 
of  our  nature,  —  our  want  of  religion.  He  made  use  of  one 
very  happy  allusion.  Speaking  of  the  mingling  of  subordinate 
evils  with  great  good,  he  said,  Though  the  serpent  does  twine 
himself  round  the  staff  of  the  god  of  healing."  * 

H.  C.  E.  TO  Mrs.  Clarkson. 

Gray's  Inn,!  28th  January,  1812. 
You  will  be  interested  to  hear  how  Coleridge's  lectures 
closed  :  they  ended  with  eclat.  The  room  was  crowded,  and 
the  lecture  had  several  passages  more  than  brilliant,  —  they 
were  luminous,  and  the  light  gave  conscious  pleasure  to  every 
person  who  knew  that  he  could  both  see  the  glory  and  the  ob- 
jects around  it  at  once,  while  (you  know)  mere  splendor,  like 
the  patent  lamps,  presents  a  flame  that  only  puts  out  the  eyes. 
Coleridge's  explanation  of  the  character  of  Satan,  and  his  vin- 
dication of  Milton  against  the  charge  of  falling  below  his 
subject,  where  he  introduces  the  Supreme  Being,  and  his 
illustration  of  the  difference  between  poetic  and  abstract  truth, 
and  of  the  diversity  in  identity  hetween  the  philosopher  and  the 
poet,  were  equally  wise  and  beautiful.  He  concluded  with  a 
few  strokes  of  satire ;  but  I  cannot  forgive  him  for  selecting 
alone  (except  an  attack  on  Pope's  Homer,"  qualified  by  in- 
sincere eulogy)  Mrs.  Barbauld.  She  is  a  living  writer,  a  woman, 
and  a  person  who,  however  discordant  with  himself  in  charac- 
ter and  taste,  has  still  always  shown  him  civilities  and  atten- 
tions.   It  was  surely  ungenerous  

February  27th,  —  Coleridge's  concluding  lecture.  A  dinner 
at  John  Thelwall's.  The  American  poet  Northmore  there  ; 
also  the  Eev.  W.  Frend  ;  %  George  Dyer,  §  whose  gentle  man- 

*  Godwin  and  Rough  met  at  this  party  for  the  first  time.  The  very  next 
day  Godwin  called  on  me  to  say  how  much  he  liked  Rough,  adding:  "  By  the 
by,  do  you  think  he  would  lend  me  £  50  just  now,  as  I  am  in  want  of  a  little 
money  ?  "  He  had  not  left  me  an  hour  before  Rough  came  with  a  like  ques- 
tion. He  wanted  a  bill  discounted,  and  asked  whether  I  thought  Godwin 
would  do  it  for  him.  The  habit  of  both  was  so  well  known  that  some  persons 
were  afraid  to  invite  them,  lest  it  should  lead  to  an  application  for  a  loan  from 
some  friend  who  chanced  to  be  present.  —  H.  C.  R. 

t  Mr.  Littledale's  chambers  were  in  Gray's  Inn. 

X  The  eminent  mathematician,  and  former  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Jesus  Col- 
lege, Cambridge.  For  a  pamphlet  published  by  him  in  1793,  and  containing 
expressions  of  dislike  to  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the  Established 
Church,  he  was,  after  a  trial  of  eight  days  by  the  University  authorities,  sen- 
tenced to  banishment  from  the  University.  His  fellowship  he  retained  till  his 
marriage. 

§  See  ante^  pp.  S9,  40.  ' 


240     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


ners  were  a  contrast  to  the  slovenliness  of  his  dress  ;  North- 
cote  the  painter  ;  and  a  very  interesting  man  named  Nicholson, 
who  has  raised  himself  out  of  the  lowest  condition,  though  not 
out  of  poverty,  by  literary  and  scientific  labors.  What  he  has 
written  (not  printed)  would  fill  three  hundred  moderate-sized 
volumes.  For  an  introduction  to  Natural  Philosophy  he  re- 
ceived £  150.  He  has  the  air  of  a  robust  man,  both  in  body 
and  in  mind. 

March  10th,  —  Mrs.  Collier  and  I  went  to  Covent  Garden 
Theatre.  "  Julius  Caesar."  We  were  forced  to  staiid  all  the 
time.  Young  as  Cassius  surpassed  Kemble  as  Brutus.  Indeed 
the  whole  performance  of  the  latter  was  cold,  stiff,  and  pedan- 
tic. In  the  quarrel  scene  only,  his  fine  figure  gave  him  an 
advantage  over  Young.  He  was  once  warmly  applauded ;  but, 
on  the  whole,  Young  seemed  to  be  the  favorite,  and  where  he 
instigated  Brutus  to  concur  in  the  plot,  he  drew  down  peals 
of  applause.  The  two  orations  from  the  rostrum  produced 
no  effect  whatever.  The  architectural  scenery  was  very 
grand. 

March  15th.  —  A  pleasant  walk  to  Hampstead.  Had  much 
conversation  with  Hamond.  Some  years  ago  he  called  on 
Jeremy  Bentham  without  any  introduction,  merely  to  obtain 
the  acquaintance  of  the  great  man.  Bentham  at  first  declined 
to  receive  him,  but  on  seeing  Hamond's  card  altered  his  mind, 
and  an  intimacy  arose.  Bentham  himself,  when  a  young  man, 
was  so  enthusiastic  an  admirer  of  Helvetius,  that  he  actually 
thought  of  offering  himself  as  a  servant  to  him.  "  You,"  said 
he  to  Hamond,  in  reference  to  his  desire,  ^Hook  a  better  way." 
When  Hamond  told  me  this,  I  did  not  confess  that,  sixteen 
years  ago,  the  idea  of  doing  a  similar  thing  floated  before  my 
own  mind  ;  but  I  was  pleased  to  find  that  the  same  extrava- 
gancy of  sentiment  had  affected  so  superior  a  man  as  Ben- 
tham. 

March  16th.  —  Flaxman's  lecture.  The  short  characteristics 
of  the  most  famous  pieces  of  sculpture  of  antiquity  very  inter- 
esting. There  was  not  in  this,  any  more  than  in  preceding  lec- 
tures I  have  heard  from  him,  great  power  of  discrimination,  or 
much  of  what  in  a  lower  sense  is  called  understanding,  though 
Flaxman's  beautiful  sense  and  refined .  taste  are  far  superior  to 
any  understanding  the  mere  critic  can  possess.  The  artist 
needs  a  different  and  higher  quality,  —  Kunstsinn  (feeling  for 
art),  and  that  Flaxman  possesses  in  a  greater  degree  than  any 
other  man  I  know.    Returned  to  Charles  Lamb,  with  whom 


1812.] 


•  ATTIC  CHEST  SOCIETY. 


241 


were  Barron  Field,  Leigh  Hunt,  and  Barnes.*  The  latter,  with 
a  somewhat  feist  appearance,  has  a  good  countenance,  and  is  a 
man  who,  I  dare  say,  will  make  his  way  in  the  world.  He  has 
talents  and  activity,  and  inducements  to  activity.  He  has  ob- 
tained high  honors  at  Cambridge,  and  is  now  a  candidate  for  a 
fellowship.  He  reports  for  Walter.  Charles  Lamb  was  at  his 
best,  —  very  good-humored,  but  at  the  same  time  solid.  I 
never  heard  him  talk  to  greater  advantage.  He  v/rote  last 
week  in  the  Examiner  some  capital  lines,  "  The  Triumph  of 
the  Whale,"  f  and  this  occasioned  the  conversation  to  take 
more  of  a  political  turn  than  is  usual  with  Lamb.  Leigh 
Hunt  is  an  enthusiast,  very  well  intent ioned,  and  I  believe 
prepared  for  the  worst.  He  said,  pleasantly  enough:  ^'  No  one 
can  accuse  me  of  not  writing  a  libel.  Everything  is  a  libel,  as 
the  law  is  now  declared,  and  our  security  lies  only  in  their 
shame."  He  talked  on  the  theatre,  and  showed  on  such  points 
great  superiority  over  the  others. 

March  18th.  —  Evening  at  Porden's,  the  Society  of  the  Attic 
Chest.  This  is  a  small  society,  the  members  of  which  send 
verses,  w^hich  are  put  into  a  box,  and  afford  an  evening's 
amusement  at  certain  intervals.  The  box  was  actually  made  at 
Athens.  Some  verses,  I  suspect  by  Miss  Flaxman,  on  music, 
pleased  me  best.  The  company  was  numerous,  —  the  Rogets,{ 
Phillips  §  the  painter,  and  his  wife.  Old  General  Franklin, 
*  For  a  long  time  editor  of  the  Tirnes. 

t  H.  C.  R.  says  that  in  Galignani  this  poem  was  incorrectly  ascribed  to 
Lord  Byron.  A  few  lines  will  serve  as  a  specimen  of  the  kind  of  wit  it  con- 
tains :  — 

.  .  .  .  "  Next  declare, 
Muse,  who  his  companions  are. 
Every  fish  of  generous  kind 
Scuds  aside,  or  slinks  behind. 

For  his  solace  and  relief, 

Flat-fish  are  his  courtiers  chief.  / 
Last  and  lowest  in  his  train, 
Ink-fish,  libellers  of  the  main, 
Their  black  venom,  shed  in  spite ; 
Such  on  earth  the  things  that  write*. 

In  his  stomach,  some  do  say, 

No  good  thing  can  ever  stay. 

Had  it  been  the  fortune  of  it 

To  have  swallowed  that  old  prophet, 

Three  days  there  he  'd  not  have  dwelled, 

But  in  one  had  been  expelled." 

X  Dr.  Roget  was  the  author  of  "  Animal  and  Vegetable  Physiology,"  one  of 
the  Bridge  water  Treatises,  published  in  1834. 

§  Afterwards  R.  A.,  and  father  of  the  recent  R.  A.  of  that  name. 

VOL.   I.  11  p 


242     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CBABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 

son  of  the  celebrated  Benjamin,  was  of  the  party.  He  is 
eighty-four  years  of  age,  has  a  courtier-Hke  mien,  and  must 
have  been  a  very  fine  man.  He  is  now  very  animated  and  in- 
teresting, but  does  not  at  all  answer  to  the  idea  one  would 
naturally  form  of  the  son  of  the  great  Franklin. 

Rem,^  - —  At  these  meetings  Ellen  Porden  was  generally  the 
reader,  and  she  was  herself  a  writer  of  poetry.  She  even  ven- 
tured to  write  an  epic  poem,  called  Richard  the  Second." 
When  she  presented  a  copy  to  Flaxman,  who  loved  her  for  her 
amiable  qualities  (and  more  than  amiable,  for  she  was  a  good 
domestic  character,  an  excellent  sister  and  daughter),  he 
thanked  her  and  said  :  *'Why,  Ellen,  my  love,  you 've  written 
a  poem  longer  than  Homer."  She  married  Captain,  afterwards 
Sir  John  Franklin.  The  marriage  took  place  with  an  express 
consent  on  her  part  to  his  making  a  second  voyage  of  discov- 
ery towards  the  North  Pole,  if  the  government  should  give  its 
permission.  Before  he  went  a  daughter  was  born  ;  but  her 
own  health  had  become  so  bad  that  her  life  was  despaired  of. 
I  was  one  of  the  few  friends  invited  to  the  last  dinner  at  his 
house  before  his  departure.  Flaxman  was  of  the  party,  and 
deeply  depressed  in  spirits.  Captain  F.  took  an  opportunity 
in  the  course  of  the  evening  to  say  to  me  :  "  My  wife  will  be 
left  alone  with  the  infant.  You  will  do  me  a  great  favor,  if 
you  will  call  on  her  as  often  as  your  engagements  permit."  T 
promised.  In  a  few  days  I  went  to  the  Quarter  Sessions,  and 
before  I  returned  Mrs.  Franklin  was  dead. 

March  23d.  —  With  Lawrence,  who  showed  me  a  painting 
of  Kemble  as  Cato,  in  the  last  scene,  about  to  inflict  on  him- 
self the  nohile  letum.  It  is  a  very  strong  likeness,  as  well  as  a 
very  beautiful  picture.! 

March  26th.  —  Dined  with  Messrs.  Longman  and  Co.  at  one 
of  their  literary  parties.  These  parties  were  famous  in  their 
day.  Longman  himself  is  a  quiet  gentlemanly  man.  There 
were  present  Dr.  Abraham  Bees,  J  a  very  good-humored,  agree-, 
able  companion,  who  would  in  no  respect  disgrace  a  mitre  ; 
^'  Russia  "  Tooke,  as  he  was  called  ;  Sharon  Turner,§  a  chatty 
man,  and  pleasant  in  his  talk ;  Abernethy,  who  did  not  say  a 
word  ;  and  Dr.  Holland,  ||  the  Iceland  traveller.    The  only  one 

*  Written  in  1849. 

t  This  ijicture  was  exhibited  the  same  year  at  Somerset  House,  No.  57  of 
tlie  Koynl  Academy  Catalogue. 

X  His  brother  was  a  partner  in  Longman's  house. 
§  The  historian. 

II  Afterwards  Sir  Henry  Holland,  the  Court  Physician. 


1812.] 


A  CALL  ON  THE  AIKINS. 


243 


who  said  anything  worth  reporting  was  Dr.  Rees,  the  well-known 
Arian,  "  Encyclopsedic  Rees."  He  related  that  when,  in  1788, 
Beaufoy  made  his  famous  attempt  to  obtain  the  repeal  of  the 
Corporation  and  Test  Act,  a  deputation  waited  on  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Thurlow  to  obtain  his  support.  The  deputies  were 
Drs.  Kippis,  Palmer  (of  Hackney),  and  Rees.  The  Chancellor 
heard  them  very  civilly,  and  then  said  :  Gentlemen,  I 'm 
against  you,  by  G — .  I  am  for  the  Established  Church, 
d-mme  !  Not  that  I  have  any  more  regard  for  the  Estab- 
lished Church  than  for  any  other  church,  but  because  it  is  es- 
tablished.  And  if  you  can  get  your  d-  d  religion  established, 

I  '11  be  for  that  too  !  "    Rees  told  this  story  with  great  glee. 

April  12th.  —  A  call  on  the  Aikins.  The  whole  family  full 
of  their  praises  of-  Charles  Lamb.  The  Doctor  termed  him  a 
brilliant  writer.  The  union  of  so  much  eloquence  with  so 
much  wit  shows  great  powers  of  mind.  Miss  Aikin  was  not 
less  warm  in  her  praise.  She  asked  why  he  did  not  write 
more.  I  mentioned,  as  one  cause,  the  bad  character  given 
him  by  the  reviewers.  She  exclaimed  against  the  reviewers. 
I  then  spoke  of  the  Annual  Review  (Arthur  Aikin,  the  editor, 
was  present),  as  having  hurt  him  much  by  its  notice  of  John 
Woodvil."*  She  exclaimed,  0  that  Tommy  ;  that  such  a  fel- 
low should  criticise  such  a  man  as  Lamb."  I  then  mentioned 
that  some  persons  had  attributed  the  article  to  Mrs.  Barbauld. 
I  was  impressed  with  the  sincerity  and  liberality  of  the  Aikins, 
in  acknowledging  a  merit  so  unlike  their  own.  They  evinced  a 
universality  of  taste  which  I  had  not  supposed  them  to  possess. 

April  IStK  —  Met  a  Mr.  Anderson,  a  north-country  divine, 
a  hard-headed,  shrewd  man,  of  blunt  manners,  who  ought  to 
have  been  chaplain  to  the  Parliamentary  army  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  civil  wars  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  He  is 
a  laudator  temporis  prcesentis^  rather  than  acti.  He  laughed 
heartily  at  old  Jameson's  advertisement,  that  persons  taking 
apartments  in  his  house  "  might  be  accommodated  with  family 
prayer." 

April  20th,  —  Called  on  the  Godwins,  f  They  very  much 
admire  Miss  Flaxman's  designs  for  Robin  Goodfellow  "  ;  bvit 
do  not  think  they  would  sell.  Parents  are  now  so  set  against 
all  stories  of  ghosts,  that  fifty  copies  of  such  designs  would 
not  be  sold  in  a  year. 

*  Lamb's  Works,  1855,  Vol.  IV.  p.  299. 

t  Godwin  was  at  this  time  largely  engaged  in  publishing  books  for  children. 
He  published  Lamb's  "Tales  from  Shakespeare,"  and  Miss  Lamb's  ''Mrs. 
Leicester's  School." 


244    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 

April  21st, — Accompanied  Cargill  *  to  Covent  Garden. 
Mrs.  Siddons  in  Mrs.  Beverley.  Her  voice  appeared  to  have 
lost  its  brilliancy  (like  a  beautiful  face  through  a  veil) ;  in 
other  respects,  however,  her  acting  is  as  good  as  ever.  Her 
^^  0  that  my  eyes  were  basilisks  !  "  was  her  great  moment  in 
the  play.  Her  smile  was  enchantingly  beautiful ;  and  her 
transitions  of  countenance  had  all  the  ease  and  freedom  of 
youth.  If  she  persist  in  not  playing  Mrs.  Beverley  again, 
that  character  will,  I  am  confident,  never  be  played  with 
anything  like  equal  attractions.  And  without  some  great 
attraction  in  the  performers,  such  a  play  ought  not  to  be  rep- 
resented. It  is  a  dull  sermon  ;  the  interest  kept  up  by  com- 
monplace incidents,  and  persons  who  are  absolutely  no  char- 
acters at  all.  Young  did  not  look  the  part  of  Beverley  well. 
As  Amyot  says,  he  is  a  bad  waistcoat-and-breeches  actor. 

April  27th.  —  At  Hazlitt's  last  lecture.  Very  well  deliv-  • 
ered,  and  full  of  shrewd  observation.  At  the  close,  he  re- 
marked on  the  utility  of  metaphysics.  He  quoted  and  half 
assented  to  Hume's  sceptical  remark,  that  perhaps  they  are 
not  worth  the  study,  but  that  there  are  persons  who  can  find 
no  better  mode  of  amusing  themselves.  He  then  related  an 
Indian  legend  of  a  Brahmin,  who  was  so  devoted  to  abstract 
meditation,  that  in  the  pursuit  of  philosophy  he  quite  forgot 
his  moral  duties,  and  neglected  ablution.  For  this  he  was 
degraded  from  the  rank  of  humanity,  and  transformed  into 
a  monkey.  But,  even  when  a  monkey,  he  retained  his  origi- 
nal propensities,  for  he  kept  apart  from  other  monkeys,  and 
had  no  other  delight  than  that  of  eating  cocoanuts  and  study- 
ing metaphysics.  I,  too,"  said  Hazlitt,  "  should  be  very 
well  contented  to  pass  my  life  like  this  monkey,  did  I  but 
know  how  to  provide  myself  with  a  substitute  for  cocoanuts." 

May  3d,  —  Left  a  card  at  Sir  George  Beaumont's  for  Words- 
worth. On  my  return  a  call  on  Coleridge.  He  said  that  from 
Fichte  and  Schelling  he  has  not  gained  any  one  great  idea. 
To  Kant  his  obligations  are  infinite,  not  so  much  from  what 
Kant  has  taught  him  in  the  form  of  doctrine,  as  from  the 
discipline  gained  in  studying  the  great  German  philosopher. 
Coleridge  is  indignant  at  the  low  estimation  in  which  the  post- 
Kantianers  affect  to  hold  their  master. 

Bem.-f  —  May  5th.  —  This  day  I  saw  at  the  exhibition  a 

*  A  native  of  Jamaica,  and  a  pupil  of  Thelwall.    He  studied  the  law  under 
Sergeant  Rough,  by  H.  C.  R.'s  advice,  but  afterwards  became  a  clergyman, 
t  Written  in  1849. 


1812.] 


TALK  WITH  WORDSWORTH. 


245 


picture  by  Turner,  the  impression  of  which  still  remains.  It 

seemed  to  me  the  most  marvellous  landscape  I  had  ever  seen, 
—  Hannibal  crossing  the  Alps  in  a  storm.  I  can  never  forget 
it* 

May  6th.  —  R.  says  Johnson,  the  bookseller,  made  at  least 
£10,000  by  Cowper's  poems.  The  circumstances  show  the 
hazard  of  bookselling  speculations.  Cowper's  first  volume  of 
poems  was  published  by  Johnson,  and  fell  dead  from  the  press. 
Author  and  publisher  were  to  incur  equal  loss.  Cowper  begged 
Johnson  to  forgive  him  his  debt,  and  this  was  done.  In  return, 
Cowper  sent  Johnson  his  Task,"  saying  :  You  behaved  gene- 
rously to  me  on  a  former  occasion ;  if  you  think  it  safe  to  pub- 
lish this  new  work,  I  make  you  a  present  of  it."  Johnson  pub- 
lished it.  It  became  popular.  The  former  volumQ  was  then 
sold  with  it.  When  Cow^per's  friends  proposed  his  translating 
"  Homer,"  Johnson  said:  "I  owe  Cowper  much  for  his  last  book, 
and  will  therefore  assist  in  the  publication  of  '  Homer  '  without 
any  compensation.  The  work  shall  be  published  by  subscrip- 
tion. I  will  take  all  the  trouble  and  risk,  and  Cowper  shall 
have  all  the  profit."  Johnson  soon  had  occasion  to  inform  the 
poet  that  a  thousand  pounds  were  at  his  disposal. 

May  8th.  —  A  visit  from  Wordsworth,  who  stayed  with  me 
from  between  twelve  and  one  till  past  three.  I  then  walked 
with  him  to  Newman  Street.  His  conversation  was  long  and 
interesting.  He  spoke  of  his  own  poems  with  the  just  feeling 
of  confidence  which  a  sense  of  his  own  excellence  gives  him. 
He  is  now  convinced  that  he  never  can  derive  emolument  from 
them  ]  but,  being  independent,  he  willingly  gives  up  all  idea  of 
doing  so.  He  is  persuaded  that  if  men  are  to  become  better  and 
wiser,  the  poems  will  sooner  or  later  make  their  way.  But  if 
we  are  to  perish,  and  society  is  not  to  advance  in  civilization, 
"  it  would  be,"  said  he,  wretched  selfishness  to  deplore  the 
want  of  any  personal  reputation."  The  approbation  he  has 
met  with  from  some  superior  persons  compensates  for  the  loss 
of  popularity,  though  no  man  has  completely  understood  him, 
not  excepting  Coleridge,  who  is  not  happy  enough  to  enter  into 
his  feelings.  "  I  am  myself,"  said  Wordsworth,  "  one  of  the 
happiest  of  men  ;  and  no  man  who  does  not  partake  of  that 
happiness,  who  lives  a  life  of  constant  bustle,  and  whose  feli- 
city depends  on  the  opinions  of  others,  can  possibly  comprehend 

*  The  picture  is  now  in  the  National  Gallery,  Turner  Collection.  It  was 
No.  258  of  the  Somerset  House  Catalogue,  and  entitled  "  Snow-Storm :  Han- 
nibal and  his  Army  crossing  the  Alps.  —  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  R.  A." 


246     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


the  best  of  my  poems."  I  urged  an  excuse  for  those  who  can 
really  enjoy  the  better  pieces,  and  who  yet  are  offended  by  a 
language  they  have  by  early  instruction  been  taught  to  con- 
sider unpoetical ;  and  Wordsworth  seemed  to  tolerate  this 
class,  and  to  allow  that  his  admirers  should  undergo  a  sort  of 
education  to  his  works. 

May  11th.  —  Called  at  Coleridge's,  where  I  found  the  Lambs. 
I  had  just  heard  of  the  assassination  of  Mr.  Perceval,  which  had 
taken  place  about  an  hour  and  a  half  before.  The  news  shocked 
Coleridge  exceedingly,  and  he  was  at  once  ready  to  connect 
the  murder  with  political  fanaticism,  Burdett's  speeches,  &c. 
Charles  Lamb  was  apparently  affected,  but  could  not  help 
mingling  humor  with  his  real  concern  at  the  event.* 

Spent  the  evening  at  Miss  Benger's.t  Miss  Jane  Porter  { 
there.  Her  stately  figure  and  graceful  manners  made  an  im- 
pression on  me.  Few  ladies  have  been  so  gifted  with  personal 
attractions,  and  at  the  same  time  been  so  respectable  as  authors. 

May  13th,  —  Wordsworth  accompanied  me  to  Charles  Ai- 
kin's.  §  Mrs.  Barbauld,  the  Aikins,  Miss  Jane  Porter,  Mont- 
gomery the  poet,  Koscoe,  ||  son  of  the  Liverpool  Roscoe,  &c. 
The  most  agreeable  circumstance  of  the  evening  was  the  hom- 
age involuntarily  paid  to  the  poet.  Everybody  was  anxious  to 
get  near  him.  One  lady  was  ludicrously  fidgety  till  she  was 
within  hearing.  A  political  dispute  rather  disturbed  us  for  a 
time.  Wordsworth,  speaking  of  the  late  assassination,  and  of 
Sir  Francis  Burdett's  speech  ten  days  ago,  said  that  probably 
the  murderer  heard  that  speech,  and  that  this,  operating  on 
his  mind  in  its  diseased  and  inflamed  state,  might  he  the  de- 
termining motive  to  his  act.  This  was  taken  up  as  a  reflection 
on  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  and  resented  warmly  by  young  Roscoe, 
who  maintained  that  the  speech  was  a  constitutional  one,  and 

*  About  this  time  there  was  an  attack  on  Charles  Lamb  in  the  Quarterly  Re- 
view^ in  an  article  on  Weber's  edition  of  "  Ford's  Works."  Lamb  was  called  a 
"poor  maniac."  It  was  this  attack  which  occasioned  and  justified  Lamb's 
sonnet,  "  St.  Crispin  to  Mr.  Gifford,"  a  happy  jeu  d'esprit.  That  Charles 
Lamb  had,  for  ever  so  short  a  time,  been  in  confinement  was  not  known  to  me 
till  the  recent  disclosure  in  Talfourd's  "  Final  Memorials."  —  H.  C.  R. 

t  Miss  Benger  obtained  considerable  literary  celebrity  as  a  writer  of  histor- 
ical biographies.  She  was  much  esteemed  in  the  circle  of  friends  to  which  she 
was  introduced  on  first  coming  to  London.  Among  those  friends  were  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  Miss  Aikin,  Mrs.  Joanna  Baillie,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hamilton,  Dr. 
Aikin,  and  Dr.  Gregory. 

I  The  authoress  of Thaddeus  of  Warsaw,"  and  other  popular  novels. 

§  Mr.  Charles  Aikin  was  then  in  practice  as  a  medical  man  in  Broad  Street, 
City. 

(I  Probably  William  Stanley  Roscoe. 


1812.] 


WALK  WITH  WORDSWORTH. 


247 


asked  what  the  starving  were  to  do  ?  ^'  Not  murder  people," 
said  Wordsworth,  "unless  they  mean  to  eat  their  hearts."* 

May  15th.  —  A  call  on  Flaxman  in  the  evening.  He  spoke 
of  Turner's  landscape  with  great  admiration,  as  the  best  paint- 
ing in  the  Exhibition.  He  praised  parts  of  Hilton's  "  Christ 
Healing  the  Blind,"  espec-ially  the  hands  of  the  principal  fig- 
ures, and  the  contrasted  expression  of  the  one  expecting  the 
operation  of  the  miracle,  and  the  one  on  whom  it  has  already 
taken  place.  Miss  Flaxman  pointed  out  Allingham's  "  Grief 
and  Pity,"  and  a  landscape,  '^Sadac  Seeking  the  Waters  of 
Oblivion." 

May  19th.  —  Went  to  Covent  Garden  Theatre.  Mrs.  Siddons 
played  Queen  Catherine  to  perfection,  and  Kemble  as  Wolsey, 
in  the  scene  of  his  disgrace,  was  greatly  applauded.  I  think  I 
never  saw  Mrs.  Siddons's  pantomime  in  higher  excellence.  The 
dying  scene  was  represented  with  such  truthfulness,  as  almost 
to  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  beautiful  imitation,  viz.  by  shifting 
her  pillow  with  the  restlessness  of  a  person  in  pain,  and  the  sus- 
pended breath  in  moving,  which  usually  denotes  suffering.  It 
was,  however,  a  most  delightful  performance. 

In  an  earlier  part  of  the  day  heard  part  of  Coleridge's  first 
lecture  in  Willis's  Rooms.f  As  I  was  present  only  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  I  could  not  enter  nmch  into  his  subject. 
I  perceived  that  he  was  in  a  digressing  mood.  He  spoke  of 
religion,  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  the  Gothic  reverence  for  the 
female  sex,  and  a  classification  of  poetry  into  the  ancient  and 
the  romantic. 

May  2Sd.  —  Coleridge's  second  lecture.  A  beautiful  disser- 
tation on  the  Greek  drama.  His  analysis  of  the  trilogy  of 
^Eschylus,  the  "  Agamemnon,"  &c.  was  interesting ;  and  his 
account  of  the  "  Prometheus,"  and  his  remarks  on  the  An- 
tigone," were  more  connected  than  when  I  heard  him  speak  on 
the  same  subjects  on  a  former  occasion. 

May  2Jfth,  —  A  very  interesting  day.  At  half  past  ten 
joined  Wordsworth  in  Oxford  Road  ;  we  then  got  into  the 
fields,  and  walked  to  Hampstead.  I  read  to  him  a  number  of 
Blake's  poems,  with  some  of  which  he  was  pleased.    He  regard- 

*  In  a  note  to  Mr.  Robinson,  dated  two  days  after  this  visit  Wordsworth 
says:  "  I  have  never  been  well  since  I  met  your  city  politicians;  yet  I  am  con- 
tent to  pay  this  price  for  the  knowledge  of  so  pleasing  a  person  as  Mrs.  Charles 
Aikin,  being  quite  an  enthusiast  when  I  find  a  woman  whose  countenance  and 
manners  are  what  a  woman's  ought  to  be." 

t  A  course  on  Shakespeare,  with  introductory  matter  on  poetry,  the  drama, 
and  the  stage. 


248     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


ed  Blake  as  having  in  him  the  elements  of  poetry  much  more 
than  either  Byron  or  Scott.  We  met  Miss  Joanna  Baillie, 
and  accompanied  her  home.  She  is  small  in  figure,  and  her  gait 
is  mean  and  shufflmg,  but  her  manners  are  those  of  a  well-bred 
woman.  She  has  none  of  the  unpleasant  airs  too  common  to 
literary  ladies.  Her  conversation  is  sensible.  She  possesses 
apparently  considerable  information,  is  prompt  without  being 
forward,  and  has  a  fixed  judgment  of  her  own,  without  any 
disposition  to  force  it  on  others.  Wordsworth  said  of  her  with 
warmth  :  "  If  I  had  to  present  any  one  to  a  foreigner  as  a  model 
of  an  English  gentlewoman,  it  would  be  Joanna  Baillie." 

May  26th.  —  Walked  to  the  Old  Bailey  to  see  D.  I.  Eaton  ' 
in  the  pillory.*  As  I  expected,  his  punishment  of  shame  was 
his  glory.  The  mob  was  not  numerous,  but  decidedly  friendly 
to  him.  His  having  published  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason  "  was 
not  an  intelligible  offence  to  them.  I  heard  such  exclama- 
tions as  the  following  :  "  Pillory  a  man  for  publishing  a  book, 
—  shame  !  "  —  "I  wish  old  Sir  Wicary  was  there,  my  pockets 
should  not  be  empty."  —  "  Religious  liberty  !  "  —  "  Liberty  of 
conscience  !  "  Some  avowed  their  willingness  to  stand  in  the 
pillory  for  a  dollar.  "  This  a  punishment  %  this  is  no  dis- 
grace !  "  As  his  position  changed,  and  fresh  partisans  were 
blessed  by  a  sight  of  his  round,  grinning  face,  shouts  of  "  Bra- 
vo !  "  arose  from  a  new  quarter.  His  trial  w^as  sold  on  the 
spot.  The  whole  affair  was  an  additional  proof  of  the  folly  of 
the  Ministers,  who  ought  to  have  known  that  such  an  exhibi- 
tion would  be  a  triumph  to  the  cause  they  meant  to  render 
infamous. 

Heard  Coleridge's  third  lecture.  It  was  wholly  on  the 
Greek  drama,  though  he  had  promised  that  he  would  to-day 
proceed  to  the  modern  drama.  The  lecture  itself  excellent 
and  very  German. 

May  27th,  —  Went  to  Miss  Benger's  in  the  evening,  where 
I  found  a  large  party.  Had  some  conversation  with  Miss  Por- 
ter. She  won  upon  me  greatly.  I  was  introduced  to  a  char- 
acter, —  Miss  Wesley,  a  niece  of  the  celebrated  John,  and 
daughter  of  Samuel  Wesley.  She  is  said  to  be  a  devout  and 
most  actively  benevolent  woman.  Eccentric  in  her  habits,  but 
most  estimable  in  all  the  great  points  of  character.    A  very 

*  Daniel  Isaac  Eaton,  the  publisher  of  free  theological  works  (Paine's  "Age 
of  Reason,"  "Ecce  Homo,"  &c.).*  He  underwent  not  less  than  eight  prosecu- 
tions by  government  for  his  publications.  For  publishing  the  third  part  of 
the  '*  Age  of  Reason"  he  suffered  eighteen  months'  imprisonment.  He  died  in 
1814.  (D.  I.  Eaton  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  David  Eaton,  a  bookseller, 
and  the  friend  of  Theophilus  Lindsey.) 


1812.] 


EVENING  AT  MORGAN'S. 


249 


lively  little  body,  with  a  round  short  person,  in  a  constant 
fidget  of  good-nature  and  harmless  vanity.  She  has  written 
novels,  which  do  not  sell ;  and  is  reported  to  have  said,  when 
she  was  introduced  to  Miss  Edgeworth,  ^'  We  sisters  of  the 
quill  ought  to  know  each  other."  She  said  she  had  friends  of 
all  sects  in  religion,  and  was  glad  she  had,  as  she  could  not 
possibly  become  micharitable.  She  had  been  in  Italy,  and 
loved  the  Italians  for  their  warmth  in  friendship.  Some  one 
remarked,  "  They  are  equally  warm  in  their  enmities."  She 
replied,  "  Of  course  they  are."  When  I  said  I  loved  the  peo- 
ple of  every  country  I  had  been  in,  she  said,  in  a  tone  which 
expressed  much  more  than  the  words,  "  How  glad  I  am  to 
hear  you  say  so  !  " 

May  29th,  —  Coleridge's  fourth  lecture.  It  was  on  the  na- 
ture of  comedy,  —  about  Aristophanes,  &c.  The  mode  of 
treating  the  su}3ject  very  German,  and  of  course  much  too  ab- 
stract for  his  audience,  which  was  thin.  Scarcely  any  ladies 
there.  With  such  powers  of  original  thought  and  real  genius, 
both  philosophical  and  poetical,  as  few  men  in  any  age  have 
possessed,  Coleridge  wants  certain  minor  qualities,  which  would 
greatly  add  to  his  efficiency  and  influence  with  the  public. 
Spent  the  evening  at  Morgan's.  Both  Coleridge  and  Words- 
worth there.  Coleridge  very  metaphysical.  He  adheres  to 
Kant,  notwithstanding  all  Schelling  has  written,  and  maintains 
that  from  the  latter  he  has  gained  no  new  ideas.  All  Schel- 
ling has  said,  Coleridge  has  either  thought  himself,  or  found 
in  Jacob  Boehme.*  Wordsworth  talked  very  finely  on  poetry. 
He  praised  Burns  for  his  introduction  to  "  Tam  O'Shanter." 
Burns  had  given  an  apology  for  drunkenness,  by  bringing  to- 
gether all  the  circumstances  which  can  serve  to  render  excusa- 
ble what  is  in  itself  disgusting ;  thus  interesting  our  feelings, 
and  making  us  tolerant  of  what  would  otherwise  be  not  en- 
durable. 

Wordsworth  praised  also  the  conclusion  of  "  Death  and  Dr. 
Hornbook.-'  He  compared  this  with  the  abrupt  prevention  of 
the  expected  battle  between  Satan  and  the  archangel  in  "  Para- 
dise Lost "  ;  but  the  remark  did  not  bring  its  own  evidence 
with  it.  I  took  occasion  to  apply  to  Goethe  the  praise  given 
to  Burns  for  the  passage  t  quoted,  and  this  led  to  my  warm 

*  The  German  Visionary  and  Theosophist  (1575-1624). 

t  The  passage  from  Burns's  "  Vision"  which  H.  C.  R.  afterwards  quoted  to 
Goethe  as  resembling  the  Zueignung  (dedication)  to  his  own  works.    "  Each 
poet  confesses  his  infirmities,  —  each  is  consoled  by  the  muse;  the  holly-leaf 
of  the  Scotch  poet  being  the  '  veil  of  dew  and  sunbeams '  of  the  German." 
II  * 


250     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


praise  of  the  German.  Coleridge  denied  merit  to  "  Torquato 
Tasso/'  and  talked  of  the  impossibility  of  being  a  good  poet 
without  being  a  good  man,  adducing  at  the  same  time  the  im- 
moral tendency  of  Goethe's  works.    To  this  I  demurred.- 

Maij  Slst.  —  A  day  of  great  enjoyment.  Walked  to  Hamp- 
stead.  Found  Wordsworth  demonstrating  to  Hamond  some 
of  the  points  of  his  philosophical  theory.  Speaking  of  his  own 
poems,  he  said  he  valued  them  principally  as  being  a  new  pow- 
er in  the  literary  world.  Hamond's  friend  Miller  *  esteemed 
them  for  their  pure  morality.  Wordsworth  said  he  himself 
looked  to  the  powers  of  mind  they  call  forth,  and  the  energies 
they  presuppose  and  excite  as  the  standard  by  which  they 
should  be  tried.  He  expatiated  also  on  his  fears  lest  a  social 
war  should  arise  between  the  poor  and  the  rich,  the  danger  of 
which  is  aggravated  by  the  vast  extension  of  the  manufactur- 
ing system,  t 

Wordsworth  defended  earnestly  the  Church  Establishment. 
He  even  said  he  would  shed  his  blood  for  it.  Nor  was  he  dis- 
concerted by  a  laugh  raised  against  him  on  account  of  his 
having  before  confessed  that  he  knew  not  when  he  had  been 
in  a  church  in  his  own  country.  "  All  our  ministers  are  so 
vile,"  said  he.  The  mischief  of  allowing  the  clergy  to  depend 
on  the  caprice  of  the  multitude  he  thought  more  than  out- 
weighed all  the  evils  of  an  Establishment.  And  in  this  I 
agreed  with  him. 

Dined  with  Wordsworth  at  Mr.  Carr's.$  Sir  Humphry  and 
Lady  Davy  there.  She  and  Sir  H.  seem  to  have  hardly  fin- 
ished their  honeymoon.  Miss  Joanna  Baillie  said  to  Words- 
worth the  other  day,  We  have  witnessed  a  picturesque  hap- 
piness." Mrs.  Walter  Scott  was  spoken  of  rather  disparagingly, 
and  Miss  Baillie  gave  her  this  good  word  :  When  I  visited 
her  I  thought  I  saw  a  great  deal  to  like.  She  seemed  to  ad- 
mire and  look  up  to  her  husband.    She  was  very  kind  to 

*  A  clergyman  with  whom  H.  C.  R.  afterwards  became  intimate. 

t  This  was  a  topic  which  at  this  time  hamited  ahke  Wordsworth  and 
Soutliey.  Now  that  thirty-six  years  have  elapsed,  not  only  has  the  danger  in- 
creased, but  the  war  has  actually  broken  out  ;  and  as  evidence  that  men  dis- 
tinctly perceive  the  fact,  in  France  a  word  has  been  applied,  not  invented, 
which  by  implication  recognizes  the  fact.  Society  is  divided  into  propHetaires 
and  proUtaires.  And  here  we  have  an  incessant  controversy  carried  on  by  our 
political  economists,  as  to  the  respective  claims  of  labor  and  capital.  —  H.  C. 
R.,  1848. 

}  Carr  was  Solicitor  to  the  Excise,  — a  clever  man,  whom  I  visited  occasion- 
ally at  Hampstead.  His  eldest  daughter  married  Dr.  Lushington.  His  young- 
est married  Rolfe  (Lord  Cran worth),  after  the  latter  became  one  of  the  best  of 
judges.  — H.  C.  R.,  1849. 


1812.] 


MRS.  SIDDONS.  —  DE  QUINCEY. 


251 


her  guests.  Her  children  were  well-bred,  and  the  house  was 
in  excellent  order.  And  she  had  some  smart  roses  in  her  cap, 
and  I  did  not  like  her  the  less  for  that." 

June  Sd.  —  Wordsworth  told  me  that,  before  his  ballads 
were  published,  Tobin  implored  him  to  leave  out  ^*We  are 
Seven,"  as  a  poem  that  would  damn  the  book.  It  became, 
however,  one  of  the  most  popular.  Wordsworth  related  this 
in  answer  to  a  remark  that,  by  only  leaving  out  certain  poems 
at  the  suggestion  of  some  one  who  knew  the  public  taste,  he 
might  avoid  giving  offence. 

June  5th,  —  At  Co  vent  Garden.  For  the  first  time  in  my 
life  I  saw  Mrs.  Siddons  without  any  pleasure.  It  was  in  the 
part  of  the  Lady  in  "  Comus."  She  was  dressed  most  unbe- 
comingly, and  had  a  low  gypsy  hat  with  feathers  hanging 
down  the  side.  She  looked  old,  and  I  had  almost  said  ugly. 
Her  fine  features  were  lost  in  the  distance.  Even  her  decla- 
mation did  not  please  me.  She  spoke  in  too  tragic  a  tone  for 
the  situation  and  character. 

June  6th,  —  Lent  "  Peter  Bell  "  to  Charles  Lamb.  To  my 
surprise,  he  does  not  like  it.  He  complains  of  the  slowness  of 
the  narrative,  as  if  that  were  not  the  art  of  the  poet.  He 
says  Wordsworth  has  great  thoughts,  but  has  left  them  out 
here.  In  the  perplexity  arising  from  the  diverse  judgments  of 
those  to  whom  I  am  accustomed  to  look  up,  I  have  no  resource 
but  in  the  determination  to  disregard  all  opinions,  and  trust 
to  the  simple  impression  made  on  my  own  mind.  When  Lady 
Mackintosh  was  once  stating  to  Coleridge  her  disregard  of  the 
beauties  of  nature,  which  men  commonly  affect  to  admire,  he 
said  his  fi-iend  Wordsworth  had  described  her  feeling,  and 
quoted  three  lines  from  "  Peter  Bell "  :  — 

"  A  primrose  by  a  river's  brim 
A  yellow  primrose  was  to  him, 
And  it  was  nothing  more." 

"  Yes,"  said  Lady  Mackintosh,  "  that  is  precisely  my  case." 

June  17th.  — At  four  o'clock  dined  in  the  Hall*  with  De 
Quincey,  who  was  very  civil  to  me,  and  cordially  invited  me 
to  visit  his  cottage  in  Cumberland.  Like  myself,  he  is  an  en- 
thusiast for  Wordsworth.  His  person  is  small,  his  com- 
plexion fair,  and  his  air  and  manner  are  those  of  a  sickly  and 
enfeebled  man.  From  this  circumstance  his  sensibility,  which 
I  have  no  doubt  is  genuine,  is  in  danger  of  being  mistaken  for 


*  That  is  Middle  Temple  H^HlI. 


252     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


efFeminateness.  At  least  coarser  and  more  robustly  healthful 
persons  may  fall  into  this  mistake. 

June  29th.  —  This  evening  Mrs.  Siddons  took  her  leave  of 
the  stage. 

Rem,* — About  this  time,  July  2,  1812,  my  Diary  refers  to 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Buller,t  —  of  those  who  never  in  any  way 
came  before  the  public  one  of  the  most  remarkable  women 
whom  I  have  ever  known.  She  was  a  lady  of  family,  belong- 
ing to  the  BuUers  of  Devonshire,  and  had  lived  always  at  Court. 
She  said  once,  incidentally  :  "  The  Prince  Regent  has,  I  believe, 
as  high  a  regard  for  me  as  for  any  one,  — that  is,  none  at  all.  He 
is  incapable  of  friendship."  On  politics  and  on  the  affairs  of  life 
she  spoke  with  singular  correctness  and  propriety.  On  mat- 
ters of  taste  she  was  altogether  antiquated.  She  was  the 
friend  of  Mrs.  Montague  and  Mrs.  Carter.  She  showed  me 
in  her  bookcase  some  bound  quarto  volumes,  which  she  assured 
me  consisted  of  a  translation  of  Plato  by  herself,  in  her  own 
hand.  She  was  far  advanced  in  years,  and  her  death  did  not 
come  upon  her  unexpectedly.  Not  many  days  before  she  died 
I  called  to  make  inquiries,  and  the  servant,  looking  in  a  book 
and  finding  my  name  there,  told  me  I  was  to  be  admitted.  I 
found  her  pale  as  ashes,  bolstered  up  in  an  arm-chair.  She 
received  me  with  a  smile,  and  allowed  me  to  touch  her  hand. 
"  What  are  you  reading,  Mr.  Robinson  ] "  she  said.  "  The 
wickedest  cleverest  book  in  the  English  language,  if  you  chance 
to  know  it."  —  "I  have  known  the  '  Fable  of  the  Bees '  X  more 
than  fifty  years."    She  was  right  in  her  guess. 

July  26th.  —  Finished  Goethe's  "  Aus  meinem  Leben ;  Dich- 
tung  und  Wahrheit."  The  book  has  given  me  great  delight- 
The  detailed  account  of  the  ceremonies  on  electing  Joseph  II. 
has  great  interest.  Goethe  unites  the  grace  and  perfect  art  of 
the  most  accomplished  writer,  with  a  retention  of  all  the  child- 
like zeal  and  earnestness  which  he  felt  when  the  impressions 
were  first  conveyed  to  him.  I  know  of  no  writer  who  can,  like 
Goethe,  blend  the  feeling  of  youth  with  the  skill  and  power  of 
age.  Here  a  perfect  masterpiece  is  produced  by  the  exercise 
of  this  rare  talent.  The  account  of  the  election  of  Joseph 
derives  a  pathetic  interest  from  the  subsequent  destruction  of 
the  German  Empire.  His  own  innocent  boyish  amour  with 
Gretchen  is  related  with  peculiar  grace.    The  characteristic 

*  Written  in  1849.  f  For  Mrs.  Biiller,  see  ante^  p.  206. 

I  The  Fable  of  the  Bees;  or,  Private  Vices  Public  Benefits."  By  Bernard 
Mandeville,  1723.  A  work  of  great  celebrity,  or  rather  notoriety,  in  the  last 
century. 


1812.] 


COLERIDGE'S  EARLY  LIFE. 


253 


sketches  of  the  friends  of  his  father  are  felt  by  the  reader 
to  be  portraits  of  old  acquaintances.  How  familiar  the  fea- 
tures of  the  old  Hebrew  master  seem  to  me,  as  he  encourages 
the  free-thinking  questions  of  his  pupil  about  the  Jews  by 
laughing,  though  nothing  is  to  be  got  by  way  of  answer  except- 
ing, *^'Ei!  narrischer  Junge  (^^  Eh  !  foolish  boy?")  The 
florist,  the  admirer  of  Klopstock,  the  father  and  grandfather, 
are  all  delightfully  portrayed.  And  the  remark  Wordsworth 
made  on  Burns  is  here  also  applicable,  "  The  poet  writes 
humanely."  There  is  not  a  single  character  who  is  hated^  cer- 
tainly not  the  lying  French  player-boy,  arrant  knave  though 
he  is.  Perhaps  Gretchen's  kinsfolk  are  the  least  agreeable  of 
the  minor  characters. 

August  Jitli.  —  After  tea  called  at  Morgan's.  The  ladies 
were  at  home  alone.  I  took  a  walk  with  them  round  the 
squares.  They  stated  some  particulars  of  Coleridge's  family 
and  early  life,  which  were  new  and  interesting  to  me.  His 
father  was  a  clergyman  at  Ottery,  in  Devonshire.  Judge  Bul- 
ler,  when  a  young  man,  lived  many  years  in  his  family.  Indeed 
he  was  educated  by  him.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  Coleridge,  Bul- 
ler  went  down  to  offer  his  services  to  the  widow.  She  said  all 
her  family  were  provided  for,  except  the  tenth,  a  little  boy. 
Buller  promised  to  pro^^ide  for  him,  said  he  would  send  him  to 
the  Charterhouse,  and  put  him  into  some  profession.  Coleridge 
went  to  town,  and  Buller  placed  him  in  the  Blue-Coat  School. 
The  family,  being  proud,  thought  themselves  disgraced  by  this. 
His  brothers  would  not  let  him  visit  them  in  the  school  dress, 
and  he  would  not  go  in  any  other.  The  Judge  (whether  he 
was  judge  then  I  cannot  tell)  invited  him  to  his  house  to  dine 
every  Sunday.  One  day,  however,  there  was  company,  and  the 
blue-coat  boy  was  sent  to  a  second  table.  He  was  then  only 
nine  years  old,  but  he  would  never  go  to  the  house  again. 
Thus  he  lost  his  only  friend  in  London ;  and  having  no  one  to 
care  for  him  or  show  him  kindness,  he  passed  away  his  child- 
hood wretchedly.  But  he  says  he  was  thus  led  to  become  a 
good  scholar,  for,  that  he  might  forget  his  misery,  he  had  his 
book  always  in  his  hand. 

Coleridge  and  Morgan  came  back  to  supper.  Coleridge  was 
in  good  spirits.    He  is  about  to  turn  again  to  Jean  Paul. 

August  12th.  —  Paid  a  visit  to  Flaxman  in  his  lodgings  at 
Blackheath,  and  spent  the  night  there.  On  the  following 
morning  I  returned  with  him  to  town  and  accompanied  him 
to  Burlington  House  to  see  Lord  Elgin's  Marbles.    The  new 


254    KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 

cargo  was  not  yet  unpacked.  I  have  neither  the  learning  nor 
the  taste  of  an  artist,  but  it  was  interesting  even  to  me  to  be- 
hold fragments  of  architectural  ornaments  from  cities  celebrated 
by  Homer.  Flaxman  affirmed  with  confidence  that  some  of  the 
fragments  before  us  were  in  existence  before  Homer's  time.  A 
stranger  came  in,  whom  I  afterwards  understood  to  be  Chan- 
trey.  Flaxman  said  to  him,  laying  his  hand  on  a  piece  of 
stone,  "  The  hand  of  Phidias  was  on  that  !  "  The  stranger  re- 
marked that  there,  was  one  leg  which  could  not  have  been  by 
Phidias.  The  stranger  conjectured  that  some  ornaments  on  a 
sarcophagus  were  meant  to  represent  the  lotus.  Two  sorts  of 
lotus  and  the  egg,  he  said,  were  three  of  the  most  sacred  ob- 
jects of  antiquity,  and  were  found  carved  on  urns.  The  lotus, 
he  thought,  was  the  origin  of  the  cornucopia. 

At  six  I  went  by  appointment  to  Coleridge,  with  whom  I 
spent  several  hours  alone,  and  most  agreeably.  I  read  to  him 
a  number  of  scenes  out  of  the  new  "  Faust."  He  had  before 
read  the  earlier  edition.  He  now  acknowledged  the  genius  of 
Goethe  as  he  has  never  before  acknowledged  it.  At  the  same 
time,  the  want  of  religion  and  enthusiasm  in  Goethe  is  in 
Coleridge's  estimation  an  irreparable  defect.  The  beginning 
of  Faust "  did  not  please  Coleridge.  ^Nor  does  he  think 
Mephistopheles  a  character.  He  had,  iiowever,  nothing  satis- 
factory to  oppose  to  my  remark  that  Mephistopheles  ought  to 
be  a  mere  abstraction,  and  no  character.  I  read  to  Coleridge 
the  Zueignung,  and  he  seemed  to  admire  it  greatly.  He  had 
been  reading  Stolberg  lately,  of  whom  he  seems  to  have  a  suffi- 
ciently high  opinion.  He  considers  Goethe's  "  Mahomets 
Gesang  "  an  imitation  of  Stolberg's     Felsenstrom  "  ;  but  the 

Felsenstrom"  is  simply  a  piece  of  animated  description,  with- 
out any  higher  import,  while  Goethe's  poem  is  a  profound 
and  significant  allegory,  exhibiting  the  nature  of  religious 
enthusiasm.  The  prologue  in  heaven  to  ^*  Faust "  did  not 
offend  Coleridge  as  I  thought  it  would,  from  its  being  a  parody 
on  Job.  Coleridge  said  of  Job,  this  incomparable  poem  has 
been  most  absurdly  interpreted.  Far  from  being  the  most 
patient  of  men.  Job  was  the  most  impatient.  And  he  was  re- 
warded for  his  impatience.  His  integrity  and  sincerity  had 
their  recompense  because  he  was  superior  to  the  hypocrisy  of 
his  friends.  Coleridge  praised  "  Wallenstein,"  but  censured 
Schiller  for  a  sort  of  ventriloquism  in  poetry.  By  the  by,  a 
happy  term  to  express  that  common  fault  of  throwing  the 
sentiments  and  feelings  of  the  writer  into  the  bodies  of  other 
persons,  the  characters  of  the  poem. 


1812.] 


HAMPSTEAD. 


255 


August  20th.  —  More  talk  with  Coleridge  about  "  Faust." 
The  additions  in  the  last  edition  he  thinks  the  finest  parts. 
He  objects  that  the  character  of  Faust  is  not  motivirt.  He 
would  have  it  explained  how  he  is  thrown  into  a  state  of  mind 
which  led  to  the  catastrophe.  The  last  stage  of  the  process  is 
given.  Faust  is  wretched.  He  has  reached  the  utmost  that 
finite  powers  can  attain,  and  he  yearns  for  infinity.  Rather 
than  be  finitely  good,  he  w^ould  be  infinitely  miserable.  This 
is  indeed  reducing  the  wisdom  and  genius  of  Goethe's  incom- 
parable poem  to  a  dull,  commonplace,  moral  idea;  but  I  do 
not  give  it  as  the  thing,  only  the  abstract  form.  All  final 
results  and  most  general  abstractions  are,  when  thus  reduced, 
seemingly  trite.  Coleridge  talks  of  writing  a  new  Faust !  He 
would  never  get  out  of  vague  conceptions,  —  he  would  lose 
himself  in  dreams  !  In  the  spirited  sketch  he  gave  of  Goethe's 
work,  I  admired  his  power  of  giving  interest  to  a  prose  state- 
ment. 

September  6th,  —  A  delightful  walk  with  my  friend  Amyot.* 
He  told  some  anecdotes  of  Dr.  Parr,  whom  he  knew.  The 
Doctor  was  asked  his  opinion  on  some  subject  of  politics  ;  with 
an  affectation  of  mystery  and  importance  he  replied  :  I  am 
not  fond  of  speaking  on  the  subject.  If  I  were  in  my  place  in 
the  House  of  Lords,  I  simuld,  (^c.,  d^rc." 

ISth. — A  delightful  day.  The  pleasantest  walk  by  far  I 
have  had  this  summer.  The  very  rising  from  one's  bed  at 
Hamond's  house  is  an  enjoyment  worth  going  to  Hampstead 
overnight  to  partake  of  The  morning  scene  from  his  back 
room  is  exceedingly  beautiful.  We  breakfasted  at  seven.  He 
and  his  sisters  accompanied  me  beyond  The  Spaniards,  and 
down  some  fields  opposite  Kenwood.  The  wet  grass  sent 
them  back,  and  I  went  on  (rather  out  of  my  way)  till  I 
entered  the  Barnet  road  just  before  the  west  end  of  Finchley 
Common.  I  crossed  the  common  obliquely,  and,  missing  the 
shortest  way,  came  to  a  good  turnpike  road  at  Colney  Hatch. 
On  the  heath  I  was  amused  by  the  novel  sight  of  gypsies. 
The  road  from  Colney  Hatch  to  Southgate  very  pleasing 
indeed.  Southgate  a  delightful  village.  No  distant  pros- 
pect from  the  green,  but  there  are  fine  trees  admirably 
grouped,  and  neat  and  happy  houses  scattered  in  picturesque 
corners  and  lanes.  The  great  houses.  Duchess  of  Chandos's, 
&c.,  have,  I  suppose,  a  distant  view.  I  then  followed  a  path 
to  Wihchmore  Hill,  and  another  to  Enfield  :  the  last  through 

*  See  page  16. 


25 G     KE.^IINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 

some  of  the  richest  verdure  I  ever  saw.  The  hills  exquisitely 
undulating.  Very  fine  clumps  of  oak-trees.  Enfield  town, 
the  large  white  church,  the  serpentine  New  River,  Mr.  Mel- 
lish's  house,  with  its  woody  appendages,  form  a  singularly 
beautiful  picture.  I  reached  Enfield  at  about  half  past  ten, 
and  found  Anthony  Robinson  happy  with  his  family.  As 
usual,  I  had  a  very  pleasant  day  with  him.  Our  chat  in- 
teresting and  uninterrupted.  Before  dinner  we  lounged  round 
the  green,  and  saw  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon  which  once  belonged 
to  Queen  Elizabeth's  palace,  of  which  only  a  chimney  now  re- 
mains. A  little  after  five  I  set  out  on  my  walk  homeward, 
through  Hornsey  and  Islington.  Till  I  came  to  Hornsey 
Church,  where  I  was  no  longer  able  to  see,  I  was  occupied 
during  my  walk  in  reading  Schlegel's  "  Yorlesungen  "  ;  his 
account  of  ^schylus  and  Sophocles,  and  their  plays,  very  ex- 
cellent. I  was  especially  interested  in  his  account  of  the 
Trilogy.  How  glad  I  should  be  to  have  leisure  to  translate 
such  a  work  as  this  of  Schlegel's  !  I  reached  my  chambers 
about  nine.  Rather  fatigued,  though  my  walk  was  not  a  long 
one,  —  only  eighteen  or  twenty  miles. 

September  19th,  —  After  an  early  dinner  walked  to  Black- 
heath,  reading  a  very  amusing  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review 
about  ants.  I  cannot,  however,  enter  into  the  high  enjoy- 
ment which  some  persons  have  in  such  subjects.  What,  after 
all,  is  there  that  is  delightfid  or  soul-elevating  in  contemplat- 
ing countless  myriads  of  animals,  endowed  with  marvellous 
powers,  which  lead  to  nothing  beyond  the  preservation  of 
individual  existence,  or  rather  the  preservation  of  a  race  ] 
The  effect  is  rather  sad  than  animating  ;  for  the  more  wonder- 
ful their  powers  are,  the  more  elaborately  complex  and  more 
curiously  fitted  to  their  end,  and  the  more  they  resemble 
those  of  human  beings,  the  less  apparent  absurdity  is  there 
in  the  supposition  that  our  powers  should  cease  with  their 
present  manifestation.  For  my  part,  I  am  convinced  that 
the  truths  and  postulates  of  religion  have  their  sole  origin 
and  confirmation  in  conscience  and  the  moral  sense. 

September  21st,  —  Took  tea  at  C.  Aikin's.  A  chat  about 
Miss  Edgeworth.  Mrs.  Aikin  willing  to  find  in  her  every  ex- 
cellence, whilst  I  disputed  her  power  of  interesting  in  a  long 
connected  tale,  and  her  possession  of  poetical  imagination. 
In  her  numerous  works  she  has  certainly  conceived  and  exe- 
cuted a  number  of  forms,  which,  though  not  representatives 
of  ideas,  are  excellent  characters.    Her  sketches  and  her  con- 


1812.] 


SPINOZA.  —  COLERIDGE. 


257 


ceptions  of  ordinary  life  are  full  of  good  sense  ;  but  the  ten- 
dency of  her  writings  to  check  enthusiasm  of  every  kind  is  of 
very  problematical  value. 

October  Sd,  —  Coleridge  walked  with  me  to  A.  Robinson's 
for  my  Spinoza,  which  I  lent  him.  While  standing  in  the 
room  he  kissed  Spinoza's  face  in  the  title-page,  and  said  : 
"  This  book  is  a  gospel  to  me."  *    But  in  less  than  a  minute 

*  Mr.  H.  C.  Robinson's  copy  of  the  works  of  Spinoza  is  now  in  the  Hbrary 
of  Manchester  New  College,  London,  with  rnarginaUa  from  the  hand  of  Coleridge. 
They  are  limited  to  the  first  part  of  the  Ethica,  "  De  Deo" ;  and  to  some  let- 
ters in  his  correspondence,  especially  with  Oldenburg,  one  of  the  earliest  sec- 
retaries of  the  Royal  Society  in  London.  It  appears  from  these  marginal  notes, 
that  Coleridge  heartily  embraced  Spinoza's  fundamental  position  of  the  Divine 
Immanence  in  all  things,  as  distinguished  from  the  ordinary  anthropomorphio 
conceptions  of  God,  but  was  anxious  to  guard  it  from  the  jpantheistic  conclu- 
sions which  might  be  supposed  to  result  from  it,  and  to  clear  it  from  the  ne- 
cessarian and  materialistic  assumptions  with  which  he  thought  Spinoza  himself 
had  gratuitously  encumbered  it.  Everywhere  Coleridge  distinctly  asserts  the 
Divine  Intelligence  and  the  Divine  Will  against  the  vague,  negative  generality 
in  which  Spinoza's  overpowering  sense  of  the  incommensurability  of  the  Divine 
and  the  Human  had  left  them  ;  and  strenuously  contends  for  the  freedom  of 
human  actions  as  the  indispensable  ba^is  of  a  true  theory  of  morals.  "  It  is 
most  necessary,"  he  says,  in  a  note  on  Propos.  XXVIII.  (of  the  first  part  of  the 
Ethics),  "  to  distinguish  Spinozism  from  Spinoza,  —  i.  e.  the  necessary  conse- 
quences of  the  immanence  in  God  as  the  one  only  necessary  Being  whose  essence 
involves  existence,  with  the  deductions,  —  from  Spinoza's  own  mechanic  real- 
istic view  of  the  world."  "  Even  in  the  latter,"  he  continues,  "  I  cannot  accord 
with  Jacobi's  assertion,  that  Spinozism  as  taught  by  Spinoza  is  atheism;  for 
though  he  will  not  consent  to  call  things  essentially  disparate  by  the  same 
name,  and  therefore  denies  human  intelligence  to  Deit}^  yet  he  adores  his  wis- 
dom, and  expressly  declares  the  identity  of  Love,  i.  e.  perifect  virtue  or  concen- 
tric will  in  the  human  being,  and  that  with  which  the  Supreme  loves  himself, 
as  all  in  all."  "  Never,"  he  concludes,  "  has  a  gi*eat  man  been  so'  hardly  and 
inequitably  treated  by  posterity  as  Spinoza:  no  allowances  made  for  the'prev- 
alence,  nay  universality,  of  dogmatism  and  the  mechanic  system  in  his  age; 
no  trial,  except  in  Germany,  to  adopt  the  glorious  truths  into  the  family  of 
Life  and  Power.    What  if  we  treated  Bacon  with  the  same  harshness!  " 

One  other  note  on  the  same  subject  (appended  to  Epist.  XXX VL)  is  so  char- 
acteristic, and  in  so  beautiful  a  spirit,  that  it  ought  to  be  transcribed:  — 

"  The  truth  is,  Spinoza,  in  common  with  all  the  metaphysicians  before  him 
(Bohme  perhaps  excepted),  began  at  the  wrong  end,  commencing  with  God  as 
an  object.  Had  he,  though  still  dogmatizing  objectively,  begun  with  the  nnlura 
naturans  in  its  simplest  terms,  he  must  have  proceeded  on  '  per  intelligentiam  * 
to  the  subjective,  and  having  reached  the  other  pole  =  idealism,  or  the  '  I,'  he 
would  have  reprogressed  to  the  equatorial  point,  or  the  identity  of  subject 
and  object,  and  would  thus  have  arrived  finally  not  only  at  the  clear  idea  of 
God,  as  absolute  Being,  the  ground  of  all  existeiits  (for  so'far  he  did  reach,  and 
to  charge  him  with  atheism  is  a  gross  calumny),  but  likewise  at  the  faith  in 
the  living  God,  who  hath  the  ground  of  his  own  existence  in  himself.  That 
this  would  have  been  the  result,  had  he  lived  a  few  years  longer,  I  think  his 
Epist.  LXXII.  authorizes  us  to  believe ;  and  of  so  pure  a  soul,  so  righteous  a 
spirit  as  Spinoza,  I  dare  not  doubt  that  this  potential  fact  is  received  by  the 
Eternal  as  actual. 

In  the  epistle  here  referred  to,  Spinoza  expresses  his  intention,  should  his 
life  be  spared,  of  defining  more  clearly  his  ideas  concerning  the  eternal  and 
infinite  Essence  in  relation  to  extension,"  which  he  thought  Des  Cartes  had 
wrongly  taken  as  the  definition  of  Matter.  J.  J.  T. 

Q 


258    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  15. 


he  added  :  "  His  philosophy  is  nevertheless  false.  Spinoza's 
system  has  been  demonstrated  to  be  false,  bnt  only  by  that 
philosophy  which  has  demonstrated  the  falsehood  of  all  other 
philoso23hies..  Did  philosophy  commence  with  an  it  is,  instead 
of  an  /  am,  Spinoza  wonld  be  altogether  true."  And  without 
allowing  a  breathing-time,  Coleridge  parenthetically  asserted  : 
"  I,  however,  believe  in  all  the  doctrines  of  Christianity,  even 
the  Trinity."  A.  Robinson  afterwards  observed,  "  Coleridge 
has  a  comprehensive  faith  and  love."  Contrary  to  my  ex- 
pectation, however,  he  was  pleased  with  these  outbursts, 
rather  than  offended  by  them.  They  impressed  him  with  the 
poet's  sincerity.  Coleridge  informs  me  that  his  tragedy  is 
accepted  at  Drury  Lane.  Whit  bread  *  admires  it  exceedingly, 
and  Arnold,  the  manager,  is  confident  of  its  success.  Cole- 
ridge says  he  is  now  about  to  compose  lectures,  which  are  to 
be  the  produce  of  all  his  talent  and  power,  on  education.  Each 
lecture  is  to  be  delivered  in  a  state  in  which  it  may  be  sent  to 
the  press. 

October  10th,  —  Dined  at  the  Hall.    A  chatty  party.    It  is 

said  that  Lady  invited  H.  Twiss  to  dinner,  and  requested 

him  to  introduce  an  amusing  friend  or  two.  He  thought  of 
the  authors  of  the  "  Rejected  Addresses,"  and  invited  James 
Smith  and  his  brother  to  come  in  the  evening  of  a  day  on 
which  he  himself  was  to  dine  with  her  ladyship.  Smith 
wrote,  in  answer,  that  he  was  flattered  by  the  polite  invita- 
tion, but  it  happened  unluckily  that  both  he  and  his  brother 
had  a  prior  engagement  at  Bartholomew  Fair,  —  he  to  eat 
fire,  and  his  brother  to  swallow  two  hundred  yards  of  ribbon. 

October  22d,  —  Heard  W.  Huntington  preach,  the  man  who 
puts  S.  S.  (sinner  saved)  after  his  name.f  He  has  an  admira- 
ble exterior ;  his  voice  is  clear  and  melodious ;  his  manner 
singularly  easy,  and  even  graceful.  There  was  no  violence, 
no  bluster,  yet  there  was  no  want  of  earnestness  or  strength. 
His  language  was  very  figurative,  the  images  being  taken  from 
the  ordinary  business  of  life,  and  especially  from  the  army 
and  navy.  He  is  very  colloquial,  and  has  a  wonderful  biblical 
memory  ;  indeed,  he  is  said  to  know  the  whole  Bible  by  heart. 

*  Mr.  S.  Whitbread,  M.  P.,  was  a  proprietor  of  shares  in  Drury  Lane  The- 
atre, and  through  friendship  for  Sheridan  took  an  active  part  in  its  affairs. 

t  He  thus  explained  his  adoption  of  these  mysterious  letters.  "  M.  A.  is 
out  of  my  reach  for  want  of  learning,  D.  D.  I  cannot  attain  for  want  of  cash, 
but  S.  S.  I  adopt,  by  which  I  mean  sinner  saved."  His  portrait  is  in  the  Na- 
tional Portrait  Gallery.  He  commenced  his  own  epitaph  thus :  "  Here  lies  the 
coal-heaver,  beloved  of  God,  but  abhorred  of  men."  He  died  at.  Tunbridge 
Wells  m  1813.   His  published  works  extend  to  twenty  volumes. 


1812.] 


FAMILY  RELIGION. 


259 


I  noticed  that,  though  he  was  frequent  in  his  citations,  and 
always  added  chapter  and  verse,  he  never  opened  the  Uttle 
book  he  had  in  his  hand.  He  is  said  to  resemble  Robert 
E-obinson  of  Cambridge.  There  was  nothing  shrewd  or  origi- 
nal in  the  sermon  to-day,  but  there  was  hardly  any  impro- 
priety. I  detected  but  a  single  one  :  Huntington  said  :  "  Take 
my  word  for  it,  my  friends,  they  who  act  in  this  way  will  not 
be  beloved  by  God,  or  by  anybody  else,''^ 

Becember  15th.  —  Hamond  mentioned  that  recently,  when 
he  was  on  the  Grand  Jury,  and  they  visited  Newgate  Prison, 
he  proposed  inquiring  of  Cobbett  whether  he  had  anything  to 
complain  of*  Cobbett  answered,  "  Nothing  but  the  being 
here."  Hamond  said,  the  reverent  bows  his  fellow-jurymen 
made  to  Cobbett  were  quite  ludicrous. 

December  20th,  Sunday.  —  A  large  family  party  at  the 
Bischoff 's,  of  which  not  the  least  agreeable  circumstance  was, 
that  there  was  a  family  religious  service.  There  is  something 
most  interesting  and  amiable  in  family  devotional  exercise, 
when,  as  in  this  instance,  there  is  nothing  austere  or  ostenta- 
tious. Indeed  everything  almost  that  is  done  by  a  family,  as 
such,  is  good.  Religion  assumes  a  forbidding  aspect  only  when 
it  is  mingled  with  impure  feelings,  as  party  animosity,  malig- 
nant intolerance,  and  contempt. 

December  2Sd,  —  Saw  "  Bombastes  Furioso  "  and  "  Midas." 
In  both  Liston  was  less  funny  than  usual.  Is  it  that  he  has 
grown  fatter  ]  Droll  persons  should  be  very  fat  or  very  thin. 
Mathews  is  not  good  as  the  king  in  "  Bombastes."  He  is  ex- 
cellent chiefly  as  a  mimic,  or  where  rapidity  of  transition  or 
volubility  is  required. 

Rem.'\  —  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  this  year  that  dear 
Mrs.  Barbauld  incurred  great  reproach  by  writing  a  poem  en- 
titled "1811."  It  is  in  heroic  rhyme,  and  prophesies  that  on 
some  future  day  a  traveller  from  the  antipodes  will  from  a 
broken  arch  of  Blackfriars  Bridge  contemplate  the  ruins  of  St. 
Paul's ! !  This  was  written  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger ; 
but  there  was  a  disheartening  and  even  gloomy  tone,  which 
even  I  with  all  my  love  for  her  could  not  quite  excuse.  It  pro- 
voked a  very  coarse  review  in  the  Quarterly,  which  many  years 
afterwards  Murray  told  me  he  was  more  ashamed  of  than  any 
other  article  in  the  Review. 

*  In  1810  Cobbett  was  tried  for  publishing  certain  observations  on  the  flog- 
ging of  some  militiamen  at  Ely.  He  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  £  1,000, 
or  be  imprisoned  for  two  years;  he  chose  the  latter. 

t  Written  in  1849. 


260    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16, 


[During  this  year  a  misunderstanding  arose  between  Cole- 
ridge and  Wordsworth,  to  which  as  "all 's  well  that  ends  well," 
it  is  not  improper  to  allude.  The  cause  of  the  misunderstanding 
was  the  repetition  to  Coleridge,  with  exaggerations,  of  what, 
with  a  kindly  intent,  had  been  said  respecting  him  by  Words- 
worth to  a  third  person.  C.  Lamb  thought  a  breach  would 
inevitably  take  place,  but  Mr.  Robinson  determined  to  do  all 
he  could  to  prevent  such  a  misfortune.  Accordingly  he  set 
about  the  work  of  mediation,  and  he  certainly  did  his  part 
most  thoroughly.  Going  repeatedly  from  one  friend  to  the 
other,  he  was  able  to  offer  such  explanations  and  to  give  such 
assurances  that  the  ground  of  complaint  was  entirely  removed, 
and  the  old  cordiality  was  restored  between  tw^o  friends  who, 
as  he  knew,  loved  and  honored  each  other  sincerely.  In  these 
interviews  he  was  struck  alike  with  the  feeling  and  eloquence 
of  the  one,  and  the  integrity,  purity,  and  delicacy  shown  by 
the  other.  On  the  11th  of  May  he  went  to  Coleridge's,  and 
found  Lamb  w4th  him.  The  assassination  of  Mr.  Perceval  had 
just  taken  place.*  The  news  deeply  affected  them,  and  they 
could  hardly  talk  of  anything  else  ;  but  the  Diary  has  this  en- 
try :  Coleridge  said  to  me  in  a  half- whisper,  that  Words- 
worth's letter  had  been  perfectly  satisfactory,  and  that  he  had 
answered  it  immediately.  I  flatter  myself,  therefore,  that  my 
pains  will  not  have  been  lost,  and  that  through  the  interchange 
of  statement,  which  but  for  me  would  probably  never  have 
been  made,  a  reconciliation  will  have  taken  place  most  desira- 
ble and  salutary."  t  —  Ed.] 


CHAPTER  XVL 
1813. 

JANUARY  23d,  —  In  the  evening  at  Drury  Lane,  to  see 
the  first  performance  of  Coleridge's  tragedy,  "  Remorse."  X 

*  See  ante^  p.  246. 

t  The  Diary  contains  many  details  on  this  subject;  but  it  has  not  been 
thought  necessary  to  give  thera  a  place  in  these  selections. 

X  Coleridge  had  complained  to  me  of  the  way  in  which  Sheridan  spoke  in 
company  of  his  tragedy.  He  told  me  that  Sheridan  had  said  that  in  the 
original  cppy  there  was  in  the  famous  cave  scene  this  line :  — 

"  Drip!  drip!  drip!    There 's  nothing  here  but  dripping." 

However,  there  was  every  disposition  to  do  justice  to  it  on  the  stage,  nor 
wea-e  the  public  unfavorably  disposed  towards  it. 


1813.] 


COLERIDGE'S  LECTURE. 


261 


I  sat  with  Amyot,  the  Hamonds,  Godwins,  (fee.  My  interest 
for  the  play  was  greater  than  in  the  play,  and  my  anxiety  for 
its  success  took  from  me  the  feeling  of  a  mere  spectator.  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  its  poetical  is  far  greater 
than  its  dramatic  merit,  that  it  owes  its  success  rather  to  its 
faults  than  to  its  beauties,  and  that  it  will  have  for  its  less 
meritorious  qualities  applause  which  is  really  due  to  its  excel- 
lences. Coleridge's  great  fault  is  that  he  indulges  before  the 
public  in  those  metaphysical  and  philosophical  speculations 
which  are  beconiing  only  in  solitude  or  with  select  minds. 
His  two  principal  characters  are  philosophers  of  Coleridge's 
own  school ;  the  one  a  sentimental  moralist,  the  other  a  sophis- 
ticated villain,  —  both  are  dreamers.  Two  experiments  made 
by  Alvez  on  his  return,  the  one  on  his  mistress  by  relating  a 
dream,  and  the  other  when  he  tries  to  kindle  remorse  in  the 
breast  of  Ordonio,  are  too  fine-spun  to  be  intelligible.  How- 
ever, in  spite  of  these  faults,  of  the  improbability  of  the 
action,  of  the  clumsy  contrivance  with  the  picture,  and  the 
too  ornate  and  poetic  diction  throughout,  the  tragedy  was  re- 
ceived with  great  and  almost  unmixed  applause,  and  was  an- 
nounced for  repetition  without  any  opposition. 

Jamiary  26th.  —  Heard  Coleridge's  concluding  lecture.  He 
was  received  with  three  rounds  of  applause  on  entering  the 
room,  and  very  loudly  applauded  during  the  lecture  and  at  its 
close.  That  Coleridge  should  ever  become  a  popular  man 
would  at  one  time  have  been  thought  a  very  vain  hope.  It 
depends  on  himself ;  and  if  he  would  make  a  sacrifice  of  some 
peculiarities  of  taste  (his  enemies  assert  that  he  has  made 
many  on  essential  points  of  religion  and  politics),  he  has 
talents  to  command  success.  His  political  opinions  will  suit 
a  large  portion  of  the  public  ;  and,  though  not  yet  a  favorite 
with  the  million,  the  appreciation  of  his  genius  is  spreading. 

February  2d.  —  I  went  with  Aders  to  see  Coleridge,  who 
spoke  to  my  German  friend  of  Goethe  with  more  warmth  than 
usual.  He  said  that  if  he  seemed  to  depreciate  Goethe  it  was 
because  he  compared  him  with  the  greatest  of  poets.  He 
thought  Goethe  had,  from  a  sort  of  caprice,  underrated  the 
talent  which  in  his  youth  he  had  so  eminently  displayed  in 
his  "  Werter,"  —  that  of  exhibiting  man  in  a  state  of  exalted 
sensibility.  In  after  life  he  delighted  in  representing  objects 
of  pure  beauty,  not  objects  of  desire  and  passion,  —  rather  as 
statues  or  paintings,  —  therefore  he  called  Goethe  picturesque, 
Coleridge  accused  Schlegel  of  one-sidedness  in  his  excessive 
admiration  of  Shakespeare. 


262     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 


February  2Sd.  —  I  underwent  a  sort  of  examination  from 
Mr.  HoUist,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Middle  Temple.  He  inquired 
at  what  University  I  had  been  educated,  and  this  caused  me  to 
state  that  I  was  a  Dissenter,  and  had  studied  at  Jena.  This 
form  being  ended,  all  impediments  to  my  being  called  to  the 
bar  next  term  are  cleared  away. 

This  day  a  Mr.  Talfourd  called  with  a  letter  from  Mr.  Rutt ; 
he  is  going  to  study  the  law,  and  wants  information  from  me 
concerning  economical  arrangements ;  he  has  been  for  some 
time  Dr.  Valpy's  head  boy,  and  wishes,  for  a  few  years,  to  oc- 
cupy himself  by  giving  instruction  or  otherwise,  so  as  to  be  no 
encumbrance  to  his  father,  who  has  a  large  family.  He  is  a 
very  promising  young  man  indeed,  has  great  powers  of  conver- 
sation and  public  speaking,  not  without  the  faults  of  his  age, 
but  with  so  much  apparent  vigor  of  mind,  that  I  am  greatly 
mistaken  if  he  do  not  become  a  distinguished  man. 

February  24-th.  —  Attended  a  conference  in  the  vestry  of  the 
Gravel  Pit  Meeting,  Mr.  Aspland  presiding.  The  subject  was 
"  Infant  Baptism."  Young  Talfourd  spoke  in  a  very  spirited 
manner,  but  in  too  oratorical  a  tone.*  We  walked  from  Hack- 
ney together;  his  youthful  animation  and  eagerness  excited 
my  envy.  It  fell  from  him  accidentally,  that  a  volume  of  poems, 
written  by  him  when  at  school,  had  been  printed,  but  that  he 
was  ashamed  of  them. 

Bem.f  —  Talfourd  combined  great  industry  with  great  vi- 
vacity of  intellect.  He  had  a  marvellous  flow  of  florid  language 
both  in  conversation  and  speech-making.  His  father  being 
unable  to  maintain  him  in  his  profession,  he  had  to  support 
himself,  which  he  did  most  honorably.  He  went  into  the 
chambers  of  Chitty,  the  great  special  pleader,  as  a  pupil ;  but 
he  submitted,  for  a  consideration,  to  drudgery  which  would  be 
thought  hardly  compatible  with  such  lively  faculties,  and  at 
variance  with  his  dramatic  and  poetic  taste.  These,  too,  he 
made  to  a  certain  extent  matters  of  business.  He  connected 
himself  with  magazines,  and  became  the  theatrical  critic  for 
several  of  them.  He  thereby  contracted  a  style  of  flashy 
writing,  which  offended  severe  judges,  who  drew  in  conse- 
quence unfavorable  conclusions  which  have  not  been  realized. 
He  wrote  pamphlets,  which  were  printed  in  the  Pamphleteer, 
published  by  his  friend  Yalpy.     Among  these  was  a  very 

*  In  his  early  life  Mr.  Talfourd  was  a  Dissenter,  and  occasionally  took  part  in 
the  conferences  held  in  the  vestry  at  the  Gravel  Pit  Meeting,  Hackney,  to  dis- 
cuss religious  subjects. 

t  Written  in  18*47. 


1813.] 


TALFOURD. 


263 


vehement  eulogy  of  Wordsworth.  He  became  intimate  with 
Lamb,  who  introduced  him  to  Wordsworth.  It  was  in  these 
words  :  "  Mr.  Wordsworth,  I  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Talfourd, 
my  only  admirer T  That  he  became  in  after  hfe  the  executor 
of  Lamb  and  his  biographer  is  well  known.  Among  his  early 
intimacies  was  that  with  the  family  of  Mr.  Eutt,  to  whose 
eldest  daughter,  Rachel,  he  became  attached.  After  a  time 
Talfourd  came  to  me  with  the  request  that  I  would  procure 
for  him  employment  as  a  reporter  for  the  Times,  that  he  might 
be  enabled  to  marry.  This  I  did,  and  no  one  could  fill  the  office 
more  honorably,  as  was  acknowledged  by  his  associates  on  the 
Oxford  Circuit.  He  made  known  at  once  at  the  bar  mess  what 
he  was  invited  to  do.  Others  had  done  the  same  thing  on  other 
circuits  secretly  and  most  dishonorably.  Consent  was  given  by 
the  bar  of  his  circuit ;  and  in  this  way,  as  a  writer  for  papers 
and  magazines,  and  by  his  regular  professional  emoluments,  he 
honorably  brought  up  a  numerous  family.  As  his  practice  in- 
creased he  gradually  gave  up  writing  for  the  critical  press,  and 
also  his  office  of  reporting.  But  when  he  renounced  literature 
for  emolument,  he  carried  it  on  for  fame,  and  became  a  dramat- 
ic writer.  His  first  tragedy,  "  Ion,"  earned  general  applause, 
and  in  defiance  of  the  advice  of  prudent  or  timid  friends  he 
produced  two  other  tragedies.*  He  did  not  acquire  equal 
reputation  for  these  ;  probably  a  fortunate  circumstance,  as 
literary  fame  is  no  recommendation  either  to  an  Attorney  or 
to  a  Minister  who  seeks  for  a  laborious  Solicitor-General.  It 
was  after  he  was  known  as  a  dramatist  that  Talfourd  f  ob- 
tained a  seat  in  Parliament,  where  he  distinguished  himself  by 
introducing  a  bill  in  favor  of  a  copyright  for  authors,  to  which 
he  was  urged  mainly  by  Wordsworth,  who  had  become  his 
friend.  His  bill,  however,  did  not  pass,  and  the  work  was 
taken  out  of  his  hands.  The  act  X  which  at  length  passed  the 
legislature  did  not  grant  as  much  as  Talfourd  asked  for.  The 
one  act  which  ought  to  be  known  by  his  name  was  one  con- 
ferring on  unhappy  wives,  separated  from  their  husbands,  a 
right  to  have  a  sight  of  their  children. 

*  " Ion"  was  produced  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre  in  May,  1836.  The  prin- 
cipal character,  first  performed  by  Macready,  was  afterwards  undertaken  by 
Miss  Ellen  Tree.  Talfourd's  second  tragedy,  "  The  Athenian  Captive,"  in 
which  Macready  played  Thoas,  was  produced  at  the  Haymarket,  1838.  The 
third  and  least  successful  was  "  Glencoe,"  first  represented  at  the  Haymarket, 
May  23,  1840.    Macready  again  played  the  hero.  —  G.  S. 

t  Talfourd  was  Member  for  Reading,  where  he  had  been  a  pupil  at  the 
Grammar  School,  under  Dr.  Valpy. 

X  This  is  always,  however,  spoken  of  as  Talfourd's  Act. 


264    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 


Talfourd  soon  acquired  popularity  at  the  bar,  from  the  mere 
faculty  of  speaking,  as  many  have  done  who  were  after  all  not 
qualified  for  heavy  work.  I  might  have  doubted  of  the  Ser- 
geant's qualifications  in  this  respect,  but  some  years  ago  I 
heard  the  late  Lord  Chief  Justice  Tindal  praise  him  highly  for 
judgment  and  skill  in  the  management  of  business.  He  said 
he  was  altogether  a  successful  advocate.  No  man  got  more 
verdicts,  and  no  man  more  deserved  to  get  them.  Talfourd  is 
a  generous  and  kind-hearted  man.  To  men  of  letters  and  artists 
in  distress,  such  as  Leigh  Hunt,  Hay  don,  &c.,  he  was  always 
very  liberal.  He  did  not  forget  his  early  friends,  and  at  the 
large  parties  he  has  hitherto  delighted  to  give,  poets,  players, 
authors  of  every  kind,  were  to  be  seen,  together  with  barristers, 
and  now  and  then  judges. 

February  26th,  —  Went  to  the  Royal  Academy  and  heard 
Sir  John  Soane  deliver  his  third  lecture  on  Architecture ;  it 
was  not  very  interesting,  but  the  conclusion  was  diverting. 
"  As  the  grammarian  has  his  positive,  comparative,  and  super- 
lative, and  as  we  say,  '  My  King,  my  Country,  and  my  God,' 
so  ought  the  lover  of  fine  art  to  say,  Painting,  Sculpture, 
Architecture  ! ! !  " 

March  18th,  —  Went  to  Covent  Garden.  Saw  Love  for 
Love."  *  Mathews,  by  admirable  acting,  gave  to  Foresight  a 
significance  and  truth  strikingly  contrasted  with  the  unmean- 
ing insipidity  of  most  of  the  other  characters.  Mrs.  Jordan 
played  Miss  Prue,  and  certainly  with  great  spirit.  She  looked 
well,  but  her  voice  has  lost  much  of  its  sweetness  and  melody ; 
yet  she  is  still  the  most  fascinating  creature  on  the  stage.  She 
also  took  the  part  of  Nell  in  "  The  Devil  to  Pay  "  ;  in  this  her 
acting  was  truly  admirable.  Her  age  and  bulk  do  not  interfere 
with  any  requisite  in  the  character. 

April  5th,  —  With  Walter,  who  introduced  me  to  Croly,  his 
dramatic  critic,  who  is  about  to  go  to  Hamburg  to  discharge 
the  duty  I  performed  six  years  before.  Croly  is  a  fierce-look- 
ing Irishman,  very  lively  in  conversation,  and  certainly  has 
considerable  talent  as  a  writer ;  his  eloquence,  like  his  person, 
is  rather  energetic  than  elegant,  and  though  he  has  great  power 
and  concentration  of  thought,  he  wants  the  delicacy  and  dis- 

*  Coiigreve's  animated  comedy  of  "Love  for  Love"  was  produced  under 
Betterton  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  in  1695.  The  part  of  Ben  was  written  for 
Doggett.  Mrs.  Abington  was  celebrated  for  her  performance  of  Miss  Prue, 
and  the  excellence  of  the  play  was  especially  manifest  when  performed  by  a 
powerful  company  under  Mr.  Macready's  management  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre, 
inl843  -G.  S. 


1813.] 


JOHN  BUCK. 


265 


crimination  of  judgment  which  are  the  finest  qualities  in  a 
critic.^* 

April  9th.  —  Accompanied  Andrews  f  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
to  hear  Lord  Welleslej's  speech  on  East  Indian  affairs.  I  was 
very  much  disappointed,  for  I  discerned  in  the  speech  (evi- 
dently a  prepared  and  elaborate  one)  not  one  of  the  great 
qualities  of  an  orator  or  statesman.  His  person  is  small,  and 
his  animation  has  in  it  nothing  of  dignity  and  weighty  energy. 
He  put  himself  into  a  sort  of  artificial  passion,  and  was  in  a 
state  of  cold  inflammation.  He  began  with  a  parade  of  first 
principles,  and  made  a  fuss  about  general  ideas,  which  were,  I 
thought,  after  all  very  commonplace.  Yet  the  speech  had  ex- 
cited curiosity,  and  brought  a  great  number  of  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  behind  the  Throne.  But  after  listening  for 
an  hour  and  a  half  my  patience  was  exhausted,  and  I  came 
home. 

April  15th.  —  A  useful  morning  at  the  King's  Bench,  Guild- 
hall. My  friend  John  Buck  X  was  examined  as  a  witness  in  a 
special  jury  insurance  cause.  Garrow  rose  to  cross-examine 
him.    "  You  have  been  many  years  at  Lloyd's,  Mr.  Buck  %  " 

—  "  Seventeen  years."  Garrow  sat  down,  biit  cross-examined 
at  great  length  another  witness.  Lord  EUenborough,  in  his 
summing  up,  said  :  ''You  will  have  remarked  that  Mr.  At- 
torney did  not  think  it  advisable  to  ask  Mr.  Buck  a  single 
question.  Now  on  that  gentleman's  testimony  everything 
turns,  for  if  you  think  that  his  statement  is  correct  — " 
Before  he  could  complete  the  sentence  the  foreman  said  :  "  For 
the  plaintifi",  my  Lord."  —  I  thought  as  much,"  said  the 
Chief  Justice. 

Mai/  8th.  —  In  the  evening  went  to  the  Temple,  where  I 
learned  that  I  had  been  called  to  the  bar.  The  assurance  of 
the  fact,  though  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt  it,  gave  me  pleasure. 

Rem.  §  —  I  have  frequently  asserted,  since  my  retirement, 
that  the  two  wisest  acts  of  my  life  were  my  going  to  the  bar 
when,  according  to  the  usual  age  at  which  men  begin  practice, 
I  was  already  an  old  man,  being  thirty-eight,  and  my  retiring 
from  the  bar  when,  according  to  the  same  ordinary  usage,  I 
was  still  a  young  man,  viz.  fifty-three. 

*  Croly's  career  lias  been  a  singular  one.  He  tried  his  hand  as  a  contributor 
to  the  daily  press  in  various  ways.    lie  wrote  tragedies,  comedies,  and  novels, 

—  at  least  one  of  each ;  and  at  last  settled  down  as  a  preacher,  with  the  rank  of 
Doctor,  but  of  what  faculty  I  do  not  know.  —  H.  C.  R.,  1847. 

t  Afterwards  Sergeant  Andrews. 

X  See  ante,  p.  19.  §  Written  in  1847 

VOL.  I.'  12 


266     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENKY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 


H.  C.  E.  TO  T.  R 

56  Hatton  Garden,  May  9, 1813. 

My  dear  Thomas  :  — 

....  Before  I  notice  the  more  interesting  subject  of  your 
letter,  I  will  dismiss  the  history  of  yesterday  in  a  few  words, 
just  to  satisfy  your  curiosity.  At  four  o'clock  precisely  I 
entered  the  Middle  Temple  Hall  in  pontificalihus,  where  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  abjuration  were  administered  to  me. 
I  then  dined,  dressed  as  I  was,  at  a  table  apart.  I  had  five 
friends  with  me.  After  dinner  we  ascended  the  elevation  at 
the  end  of  the  Hall.  My  friends  and  acquaintance  gradually 
joined  our  party.  We  were  just  a  score  in  number.  I  be- 
lieve you  are  acquainted  with  none  of  them  but  the  Colliers, 
Amyot,  Andrews,  and  Quayle.  The  rest  were  professional 
men.  After  drinking  about  six  bottles  of  humble  port,  claret 
was  brought  in,  and  we  broke  up  at  ten.  What  we  had  been 
doino:  in  the  mean  while  I  shall  be  better  able  to  tell  when  I 
have  received  the  butler's  bill.  I  cannot  say  that  it  was  a  day 
of  much  enjoyment  to  me.  I  am  told,  and  indeed  I  felt,  that 
I  was  quite  nervous  when  I  took  the  oaths.  And  I  had  mo- 
ments of  very  serious  reflection  even  while  the  bottle  was 
circulating,  and  I  was  affecting  the  boon  companion.  One  in- 
cident, however,  did  serve  to  raise  my  spirits.  On  my  coming 
home,  just  before  dinner,  I  found  with  your  letter  the  copy  of 
an  Act  of  Parliament  which  Wedd  Nash  had  left.  He  had 
nominated  me  Auditor  in  a  private  Inclosure  Act,  and  the  fee, 
he  informed  Mrs.  Collier,  would  be  ten  guineas.  The  timing 
of  this  my  first  professional  emolument  does  credit  to  Nash's 
friendliness  and  delicacy. 

•  •  •  •  • 

June  IStli. — Went  to  Mrs.  Barbauld's.  Had  a  pleasant 
chat  with  her  about  Madame  de  Stael,  the  Edge  worths,  &c. 
The  latter  are  staying  in  London,  and  the  daughter  gains  the 
good- will  of  every  one  ;  not  so  the  father.  They  dined  at 
Sotheby's.  After  dinner  Mr.  Edge  worth  was  sitting  next 
Mrs.  Siddons,  Sam  Rogers  being  on  the  other  side  of  her. 
^'  Madam,"  said  he,  "  I  think  I  saw  you  perform  Millamont 
thirty-five  years  ago."  —  "  Pardon  me,  sir."  —  ^'0,  then  it  was 
forty  years  ago ;  I  distinctly  recollect  it."  —  "  You  will  excuse 
me,  sir,  I  never  played  Millamont."  —  0,  yes,  ma'am,  I  rec- 
ollect." —  "I  think,"  she  said,  turning  to  Mr.  Rogers,    it  is 


1813.] 


MADAME  DE  STAEL. 


267 


time  for  me  to  change  my  place  "  ;  and  she  rose  with  her  own 
peculiar  dignity.* 

June  ^Jfih.  —  A  Dies  non,  and  therefore  a  holiday.  Called 
on  Madame  de  Stael  at  Brunet's.  She  received  me  very 
civilly,  and  I  promise  myself  much  pleasure  from  her  society 
during  the  year  she  intends  remaining  in  England.  I  intimated 
to  her  that  I  was  become  a  man  of  business,  and  she  will  be 
satisfied  with  my  attending  her  evening  parties  after  nine 
o'clock.  Her  son  is  a  very  genteel  young  man,  almost  hand- 
some, but  with  something  of  a  sleepy  air  in  his  eye,  and  the 
tone  of  his  conversation  a  whisper  which  may  be  courtly,  but 
gives  an  appearance  of  apathy.  The  daughter  I  scarcely  saw, 
but  she  seems  to  be  plain. 

July  6th. — Went  to  a  supper-party  at  Rough's,  given  in 
honor  of  the  new  Sergeant,  Copley.  Burrell,  the  Pordens, 
Flaxmans,  Tooke,  <fec.  there. 

Rem.'\  —  This  was  the  first  step  in  that  career  of  success 
which  distinguished  the  ex-chancellor,  now  called  the  venerable 
Lord  Lyndhurst. 

July  11th,  —  Called  this  morning  on  Madame  de  Stael  at 
3  George  Street,  Hanover  Square.  It  is  singular  that,  having 
in  Germany  assisted  her  as  a  student  of  philosophy,  I  should 
now  render  her  service  as  a  lawyer.  Murray  the  bookseller 
was  with  her,  and  I  assisted  in  drawing  up  the  agreement  for 
her  forthcoming  work  on  Germany,  for  which  she  is  to  receive 
1,500  guineas. 

July  IJfth.  —  Going  into  the  country  for  the  summer,  I 
quitted  the  house  and  family  of  the  Colliers,  in  which  I  had 
lived  as  an  inmate  for  years  with  great  pleasure.  I  am  to  re- 
turn, though  only  as  a  visitor,  in  the  autumn,  after  my  first 
experience  of  law  practice  on  the  circuit  and  at  the  sessions. 

July  18th.  —  My  first  dinner  with  the  bar  mess,  at  the 
Angel  Inn  at  Bury,  where  I  took  my  seat  as  junior  on  the 
Sessions  Circuit.  Our  party  consisted  of  Hunt,  Hart,  Storks,  $ 
Whi thread,  and  Twiss.  I  enjoyed  the  afternoon.  Hunt  is  a 
gentlemanly  man.  Hart  an  excellent  companion.  Storks  was 
agreeable,  and  Whitbread  has  a  pleasing  countenance. 

Rem.  §  —  Hart  was  in  every  way  the  most  remarkable  man 

*  This  anecdote  is  given  with  a  difference  in  the  Eeminiscences  and  the  Diary. 
In  the  latter,  the  dinner-party  is  said  to  have  been  at  Lord  Lonsdale's,  and  the 
person  to  whom  Mrs.  Siddons  turned  on  leaving  her  seat,  Tom  Moore. 

t  Written  in  1847. 

X  Afterwards  Sergeant  Storks. 

§  Written  in  1847. 


2G8     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 

of  our  circuit.  He  was  originally  a  preacher  among  the  Cal- 
vinistic  Baptists,  among  whom  he  had  the  reputation  of  being 
at  the  same  time  so  good  a  preacher  and  so  bad  a  liver  that  it 
was  said  to  him  once,  "  Mr.  Hart,  when  I  hear  you  in  the 
pulpit,  I  wish  you  were  never  out  of  it ;  when  I  see  you  out 
of  it,  I  wish  you  were  never  in  it."  He  married  a  lady,  the 
heir  in  tail  after  the  death  of  her  father.  Sir  John  Thorold,  to 
a  large  estate. 

At  the  death  of  Sir  John,  Hart  left  his  profession.  When 
I  saw  him  a  couple  of  years  after,  he  had  taken  the  name 
of  Thorold ;  and  then  he  told  me  that  he  never  knew  what 
were  the  miseries  of  poverty  until  he  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  an  entailed  estate,  —  all  his  creditors  came  upon  him 
at  once,  and  he  was  involved  in  perpetual  quarrels  with  his 
family.  His  wretchedness  led  to  a  complete  change  in  his 
habits,  and  he  became  in  his  old  age  again  a  preacher.  He 
built  a  chapel  on  his  estate  at  his  own  expense,  and  preached 
voluntarily  to  those  who  partook  of  his  enthusiasm,,  and  could 
relish  popular  declamg-tions  of  ultra-Calvinism. 

August  20th,  —  (At  Norwich.)  I  defended  a  man  for  the 
murder  of  his  wife  and  her  sister  by  poison.  It  was  a  case  of 
circumstantial  evidence.  There  was  a  moral  certainty  that 
the  man  had  put  corrosive  sublimate  into  a  tea-kettle,  though 
no  evidence  so  satisfactory  as  his  Tyburn  countenance.  I  be- 
lieve the  acquittal  in  this  case  was  owing  to  this  circumstance. 
The  wife,  expecting  to  die,  said,  "  No  one  but  my  husband 
could  have  done  it."  As  this  produced  an  effect,  I  cross-ex- 
amined minutely  as  to  the  proximity  of  other  cottages,  — - 
there  being  children  about,  —  the  door  being  on  the  latch, 
(fee.  ;  and  then  concluded  with  an  earnest  question  :  "  On  your 
solemn  oath,  were  there  not  twelve  persons  at  least  who  could 
have  done  it  1 "  —  "  Yes,  there  were."  And  then  an  assenting 
nod  from  a  juryman.  I  went  home,  not  triumphant.  But 
the  accident  of  being  the  successful  defender  of  a  man  ac- 
cused of  murder  brought  me  forward,  and  though  my  fees  at 
two  assize  towns  did  not  amount  to  £50,  yet  my  spirits  were 
raised. 

Rem.*  —  Sergeant  Blosset  (formerly  Peckwell)  was,  taking 
him  for  all  in  all,  the  individual  whose  memory  I  respect  the 
most  of  my  departed  associates  on  the  circuit.  He  was  a 
quiet  unpretending  man,  with  gentlemanly,  even  graceful 
manners,  and  though  neither  an  orator  nor  a  man  of  eminent 


*  Written  in  1847. 


1813.] 


MADAME  DE  STAEL. 


269 


learning  or  remarkable  acuteness,  yet  far  beyond  every  other 
man  on  our  circuit.  He  had  the  skill  to  advocate  a  bad  cause 
well,  without  advocating  that  which  was  bad  in  the  cause, — • 
which  greater  men  than  he  were  sometimes  unable  to  do. 
Hence  he  was  a  universal  favorite. 

My  immediate  senior  on  the  circuit  was  Henry  Cooper.  He 
was  very  far  my  superior  in  talent  for  business,  —  indeed  in 
some  respects  he  was  an  extraordinary  man.  His  memory, 
his  cleverness,  were  striking ;  but  so  was  his  want  of  judg- 
ment, and  it  often  happened  that  his  clever  and  amusing  hits 
told  as  much  against  as  for  his  client.  One  day  he  was  enter- 
taining the  whole  court,  when  Rolfe  (now  the  Baron,  then 
almost  the  junior)  *  whispered  to  me  :  "  How  clever  that  is  ! 
How  I  thank  God  I  am  not  so  clever  !  " 

I  once  saw  Cooper  extort  a  laugh  from  Lord  Ellenborough 
in  spite  of  himself  "  But  it  is  said  my  client  got  drunk. 
Why,  everybody  gets  drunk."  Then,  changing  his  voice  from 
a  shrill  tone  to  a  half-whisper,  and  with  a  low  bow,  he  added  : 

Always  excepting  your  Lordships  and  the  Bishops." 

October  18th.  —  Dined  with  Madame  de  Stael,  —  a  party  of 
liberals  at  her  house,  viz. :  Lady  Mackintosh,  Eobert  Adair  the 
diplomatist,  Godwin,  Curran,  and  Murray,  &c. 

Our  hostess  spoke  freely  of  Buonaparte.  She  was  intro- 
duced to  him  when  a  victorious  general  in  Italy  ;  even  then 
he  affected  princely  airs,  and  spoke  as  if  it  mattered  not  what 
he  said,  —  he  conferred  honor  by  saying  anything.  He  had  a 
pleasure  in  being  rude.  He  said  to  her,  after  her  writings 
were  known,  that  he  did  not  think  women  ought  to  write 
books.  She  answered  :  "  It  is  not  every  woman  who  can  gain 
distinction  by  an  alliance  with  a  General  Buonaparte."  Buona- 
parte said  to  Madame  de  Condorcet,  the  widow  of  the  philoso- 
pher, who  was  a  great  female  politician,  and  really  a  woman 
of  talent :  I  do  not  like  women  who  meddle  with  politics." 
Madame  de  Condorcet  instantly  replied  :  "  Ah,  mon  General, 
as  long  as  you  men  take  a  fancy  to  cut  off  our  heads  now  and 
then,  we  are  interested  in  knowing  why  you  do  it." 

On  one  occasion  Buonaparte  said  to  a  party  of  ladies  : 
"  Faites  moi  des  consents." 

Our  hostess  asserted  that  every  political  topic  could  be  ex- 
hausted in  one  hour's  speech  ;  but,  when  pressed,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  by  exhausting  a  subject  she  understood  uttering  all 
the  possible  generalities  and  commonplaces  it  involves.  She 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Chancellor  Cranworth. 


270     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 

praised  Erskine's  speeches.  Curran,  who  listened,  held  his 
tongue  ;  he  said  but  one  thing  on  the  subject  of  oratory,  and 
that  was  in  praise  of  Fox,  who  he  said  was  the  most  honest 
and  candid  of  speakers,  and  spoke  only  to  convince  fairly. 

It  seemed  to  me,"  said  Curran,  "as  if  he  were  addressing 
himself  to  me  personally."  Adair  praised  Sheridan  highly  in 
the  past  tense,  but  said  he  injured  himself  by  an  injudicious 
imitation  of  Burke  in  his  speech  before  the  lords  on  the  im- 
peachment of  Hastings.  Sheridan  was  praised  for  his  faculty 
of  abstracting  his  mind  from  all  other  things  and  working  up 
a  subject. 

Curran,  who  is  in  his  best  moments  a  delightful  companion, 
told  some  merry  stories,  at  which  our  hostess  exclaimed,  "  Ah, 
que  cela  est  charmant  !  "  He  was,  however,  also  melancholy, 
and  said  he  never  went  to  bed  in  Ireland  without  wishing  not 
to  rise  again.  He  spoke  of  the  other  world  and  those  he 
should  wish  to  see  there.  Madame  de  Stael  said  that  after 
she  had  seen  those  she  loved  (this  with  a  sentimental  sigh), 
she  should  inquire  for  Adam  and  Eve,  and  ask  how  they  were 
born.  During  a  light  conversation  about  the  living  and  the 
dead.  Lady  Mackintosh  exclaimed  :  "  After  all,  the  truth  of  it 
seems  to  be  that  the  sinners  have  the  best  of  it  in  this  world, 
and  the  saints  in  the  next."  Curran  declared  "  Paradise  Lost " 
to  be  the  worst  poem  in  the  language.  Milton  was  incapable 
of  a  delicate  or  tender  sentiment  towards  woman.  Curran 
did  not  render  these  heresies  palatable  by  either  originality  or 
pleasantry.  Godwin  defended  Milton  with  zeal,  and  even  for 
his  submission  to  Cromwell,  who,  he  said,  though  a  usurper, 
was  not  a  tyrant,  nor  cruel.  This  was  said  in  opposition  to 
Madame  de  Stael,  who  was  not  pleased  with  the  philosopher. 
She  said  to  Lady  Mackintosh,  after  he  was  gone  :  "  I  am  glad 
I  have  seen  this  man,  —  it  is  curious  to  see  how  naturally 
Jacobins  become  the  advocates  of  tyrants ;  so  it  is  in  France 
now."    Lady  Mackintosh  apologized  for  him  in  a  gentle  tone ; 

he  had  been  harshly  treated,  and  almost  driven  out  of 
society ;  he  was  living  in  retirement."  The  others  spoke 
kindly  of  him. 

November  1st.  —  After  a  short  visit  to  Anthony  Robinson, 
came  to  chambers  and  slept  for  the  first  time  in  my  own  bed. 
I  felt  a  little  uncomfortable  at  the  reflection  of  my  solitude, 
but  also  some  satisfaction  at  the  thought  that  I  was  at  least 
independent  and  at  home.  I  have  not  yet  collected  around 
me  all  that  even  I  deem  comforts,  but  I  shall  find  my  wants 


1813.] 


LETTER  FROM  COLERIDGE. 


271 


very  few,  I  believe,  if  I  except  those  arising  from  the  desire 
to  appear  respectable,  not  to  say  wealthy,  in  the  eyes  of  thS 
world. 

November  12th,  —  In  the  evening  a  party  at  Anthony  Robin- 
son's. The  Lambs  were  there,  and  Charles  seemed  to  enjoy 
himself  We  played  cards,  and  at  the  close  of  the  evening  he 
dryly  said  to  Mrs.  Robinson :  I  have  enjoyed  the  evening 
much,  which  I  do  not  often  do  at  people's  houses." 

November  15th.  —  Called  on  Madame  de  Stael,  to  whom  I 
had  some  civil  things  to  say  about  her  book,  which  she  received 
with  less  than  an  author's  usual  self-complacence  ;  but  she 
manifested  no  readiness  to  correct  some  palpable  omissions  and 
mistakes  I  began  pointing  out  to  her.  And  when  I  suggested 
that,  in  her  account  of  Goethe's  "  Triumph  "  (der  Empfind- 
samkeit),  she  had  mistaken  the  plot,  she  said  :  "  Perhaps  I 
thought  it  better  as  I  stated  it  ! " 

She  confessed  that  in  her  selection  of  books  to  notice  she 
was  guided  by  A.  W.  Schlegel ;  otherwise,  she  added,  a  whole 
life  would  not  have  been  sufficient  to  collect  such  information. 
This  confession  was  not  necessary  for  me.  She  says  she  is 
about  to  write  a  book  on  the  French  Revolution  and  on  the 
state  of  England,  in  which  she  means  to  show  that  all  the 
calamities  which  have  arisen  in  France  proceeded  from  not 
following  the  English  constitution.  She  says  she  has  a  num- 
ber of  questions  to  put  to  me  concerning  the  English  law,  and 
which  she  is  to  reduce  to  writing.  We  talked  on  politics.  She 
still  thinks  that  unless  Buonaparte  fall  he  will  find  means  to 
retrieve  his  fortune.  Perhaps  she  is  still  influenced  by  French 
sentiments  in  conceiving  that  Buonaparte  must  be  victorious 
at  last  if  he  persist  in  the  war.  But  she  is  nevertheless  a 
bigoted  admirer  of  our  government,  which  she  considers  to  be 
perfect  1 

Coleridge  to  H.  C.  R. 

Monday  Morning,  December  7,  1812. 
Excuse  me  for  again  repeating  my  request  to  you,  to  use 
your  best  means  as  speedily  as  possible  to  procure  for  me  (if 
possible)  the  perusal  of  Goethe's  work  on  Light  and  Color.* 
In  a  thing  I  have  now  on  hand  it  would  be  of  vey^y  important 
sei'vice  to  me  ;  at  the  same  time  do  not  forget  Jacobi  to  Fichte,t 

*  "  Goethe's  Theory  of  Colors.    Translated  from  the  German;  with  Notes 
by  Charles  Lock  Eastlake,  R.  A.,  F.  R.  S."    London,  1840. 
t  Jacobi's  "  Sendsclireiben  an  Fichte." 


272     BKMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  16. 


and  whatever  other  work  may  have  bearings  on  the  Neuere, 
neueste,  mid  allerneueste  Filosotie.  It  is  my  hope  and  pur- 
pose to  devote  a  certain  portion  of  my  time  for  the  next 
twelve  months  to  theatrical  attempts,  and  chiefly  to  the  melo- 
drama, or  comic  opera  kind  ;  and  from  Goethe  (from  what  I 
read  of  his  little  Singspiele  in  the  volume  which  you  lent  me) 
I  expect  no  trifling  assistance,  especially  in  the  songs,  airs,  (fee, 
and  the  happy  mode  of  introducing  them.  In  my  frequent 
conversations  with  W.  (a  composer  and  music-seller),  I  could 
not  find  that  he  or  the  music-sellers  in  general  had  any  knowl- 
edge of  those  compositions,  which  are  so  deservedly  dear  to 
the  German  public.  As  soon  as  I  can  disembarrass  myself,  I 
shall  make  one  sturdy  effort  to  understand  music  myself,  so 
far  at  least  of  the  science  as  goes  to  the  composition  of  a  sim- 
ple air.  For  I  seem  frequently  to  form  such  in  my  own  mind, 
to  my  inner  ear.  When  you  write  to  Bury,  do  not  forget  to 
assure  Mrs.  Clarkson  of  my  never  altered  and  unalterable 
esteem  and  affection. 

S.  T.  Coleridge. 

December  SOtJi.  —  After  dinner  a  rubber  at  Lamb's  ;  then 
went  with  Lamb  and  Burney  to  Hickman's.  Hazlitt  there. 
Cards,  as  usual,  were  our  amusement.  Lamb  was  in  a  pleas- 
ant mood.  Eickman  produced  one  of  Chatterton's  forgeries. 
In  one  manuscript  there  were  seventeen  different  kinds  of  e's. 

0,"  said  Lamb,  "  that  nmst  have  been  written  by  one  of  the 

Mob  of  gentlemen  who  write  with  ease." 

December  Slst.  —  Spent  the  evening  at  Flaxman's.  A  New 
Year's  party.  It  consisted  only  of  the  Pordens,  some  of  Mrs. 
Flaxman's  family,  and  one  or  two  others.  We  were  comforta- 
ble enough  without  being  outrageously  merry.  Flaxman,  of 
all  the  great  men  I  ever  knew,  plays  the  child  with  the  most 
grace.  He  is  infinitely  amiable,  without  losing  any  of  his 
respectability.  It  is  obvious  that  his  is  the  relaxation  of  a 
superior  mind,  without,  however,  any  of  the  ostentation  of 
condescension.  We  stayed  late,  and  the  New  Year  found  us 
enjoying  ourselves. 


1814.] 


KEAN'S  RICHAKD  IIL 


273 


CHAPTER  XYII. 


1814. 

JANUARY  2d.  —  Read  lately  the  first  volume  of  John 
Buncle."  *  It  contains  but  little  that  is  readable,  but  that 
little  is  very  pleasing.  The  preachments  are  to  be  skipped 
over,  but  the  hearty  descriptions  of  character  are  very  inter- 
esting from  the  love  with  which  they  are  penned.  Lamb  says, 
with  his  usual  felicity,  that  the  book  is  written  in  better  spirits 
than  any  book  he  knows.f  Amory's  descriptions  are  in  a 
high  style  ;  his  scene-painting  is  of  the  first  order ;  and  it  is 
the  whimsical  mixture  of  romantic  scenery,  millennium-hall 
society,  and  dry  disputation  in  a  quaint  style,  which  gives  this 
book  so  strange  and  amusing  a  character.  For  instance,  John 
Buncle  meets  a  lady  in  a  sort  of  Rosamond's  bower  studying 
Hebrew.  He  is  smitten  with  her  charms,  declares  his  love  to 
"  glorious  Miss  Noel,"  and  when,  on  account  of  so  slight  an  ac- 
quaintance, —  that  of  an  hour,  —  she  repels  him  (for  his  love 
had  been  kindled  only  by  a  desperately  learned  speech  of  hers 
on  the  paradisiacal  language),  and  threatens  to  leave  him,  he  ex- 
claims, ^'  0,  I  should  die  were  you  to  leave  me  ;  therefore,  if 
you  please,  we  will  discourse  of  the  miracle  of  Babel."  And 
then  follows  a  long  dialogue  on  the  confusion  of  tongues,  in 
which  "  illustrious  Miss  Noel "  bears  a  distinguished  part. 

March  7th,  —  At  Drury  Lane,  and  saw  Kean  for  the  first 
time.  He  played  Richard,  I  believe,  better  than  any  man  I 
ever  saw  ;  yet  my  expectations  were  pitched  too  high,  and  I 
had  not  the  pleasure  I  expected.  The  expression  of  malignant 
joy  is  the  one  in  which  he  surpasses  all  men  I  have  ever  seen. 
And  his  most  flagrant  defect  is  want  of  dignity.  His  face  is 
finely  expressive,  though  his  mouth  is  not  handsome,  and  he 
projects  his  lower  lip  ungracefully ;  yet  it  is  finely  suited  to 

*  The  "  Life  of  John  Buncle,  Esq. ;  containing  various  Observations  and 
Reflections  made  in  several  Parts  of  the  World,  and  many  extraordinary  Rela- 
tions."   By  Thomas  Amory.    Hollis,  1766.    Two  vols. 

t  John  (says  Leigh  Hunt)  is  a  kind  of  innocent  Henry  the  Eighth  of  pri- 
vate life,  without  the  other's  fat,  fury,  and  solemnity-  He  is  a  prodigous  hand 
at  matrimony,  at  divinity,  at  a  song,  at  a  loud  '  hem,'  and  at  a  turkey  and 
chine." 

Li  No.  10  of  Leigli  Hunt's  London  Journal  (June  4, 1834),  there  is  an  abstract 
of    John  Buncle." 

12=^  R 


27-i     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

Richard.  He  gratified  my  eye  more  than  my  ear.  His  action 
very  often  was  that  of  Kemble,  and  this  was  not  the  worst  of 
his  performance  ;  bnt  it  detracts  from  his  boasted  originaUty. 
His  declamation  is  very  unpleasant,  but  my  ear  may  in  time 
be  reconciled  to  it,  as  the  palate  is  to  new  cheese  and  tea.  It 
often  reminds  me  of  Blanchard's.  His  speech  is  not  fluent, 
and  his  words  and  syllables  are  too  distinctly  separated.  His 
finest  scene  was  with  Lady  Anne,  and  his  mode  of  lifting  up 
her  veil  to  watch  her  countenance  was  exquisite.  The  con- 
cluding scene  was  unequal  to  my  expectation,  though  the  fen- 
cing was  elegant,  and  his  sudden  death-fall  was  shockingly  real. 
But  he  should  have  lain  still.  Why  does  he  rise,  or  awake 
rather,  to  repeat  the  spurious  lines He  did  not  often  excite 
a  strong  persuasion  of  the  truth  of  his  acting,  and  the  applause 
he  received  was  not  very  great.  Mrs.  Glover  had  infinitely 
more  in  the  pathetic  scene  in  which  she,  as  Queen  Elizabeth, 
parts  from  her  children.  To  recur  to  Kean,  I  do  not  think 
he  will  retain  all  his  popularity,  but  he  may  learn  to  deserve 
it  better,  though  I  think  he  will  never  be  qualified  for  heroic 
parts.  He  wants  a  commanding  figure  and  a  powerful  voice. 
His  greatest  excellences  are  a  fine  pantomimic  face  and  re- 
markable agility. 

March  26th.  —  I  read  Stephens's  "  Life  of  Home  Tooke." 
All  the  anecdotes  respecting  him,  as  well  as  his  letters,  are  ex- 
cellent. They  raise  a  favorable  impression  of  his  integrity, 
and  yet  this  stubborn  integrity  was  blended  with  so  impas- 
sioned a  hatred,  that  it  is  difficult  to  apportion  the  praise 
and  reproach  which  his  admirers  and  enemies,  with  perhaps 
equal  injustice,  heap  upon  him. 

April  lOth.  —  Went  early  to  the  coffee-room.  To-day  it  was 
fully  confirmed  that  Buonaparte  had  voluntarily  abdicated  the 
thrones  of  France  and  Italy,  and  thus  at  once,  as  by  the  stroke 
of  an  enchanter's  wand,  the  revolutionary  government  of 
France,  after  tormenting  the  world  for  nearly  twenty-five 
years,  has  quietly  yielded  up  its  breath. 

April  12th.  —  Again  at  the  cofiee-room  in  the  morning, 
though  now  the  public  papers  must  of  necessity  decline  in  in- 
terest, r  There  must  follow  the  winding  up  of  accounts,  and 
there  may  arise  disputes  in  the  appropriation  of  territory  and 
in  the  fixing  of  constitutions  ;  but  no  serious  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  peace  is  to  be  apprehended.  My  wish  is  that  means 
could  be  found,  without  violating  the  honor  of  the  allies,  to 
brecik  the  treaty  so  imprudently  made  with  that  arch-knave 


1814.] 


PROSPECTS  OF  EUROPE. 


275 


Murat.  Bernadotte  ought  to  retain  his  crown,  but  I  should 
be  glad  to  see  Norway  succeed  in  emancipating  herself  from 
his  dominion,  so  unworthily  obtained.  Saxony  ought  to  revert 
to  the  house  which  lost  it  during  the  wars  produced  by  the 
Reformation,  and  the  Duke  of  Weimar  deserves  to  succeed  to  his 
ancestors.  Poland  has  no  chance  of  regaining  her  indepen- 
dence, and  perhaps  would  not  be  able  to  make  use  of  it.  Russia 
will  descend  deeper  into  Europe  than  I  can  contemplate  with- 
out anxiety,  notwithstanding  the  actual  merits  of  her  Emperor. 
Prussia  I  wish  to  see  mistress  of  all  Protestant  Germany ;  and 
it  would  give  me  joy  to  see  the  rest  of  Germany  swallowed  up 
by  Austria ;  but  this  will  not  be.  The  Empire  will,  I  fear,  be 
restored,  and  with  it  the  foundation  laid  for  future  wars  of  in- 
trigue. France  will  resume  her  influence  over  Europe ;  and 
this  is  the  one  evil  I  apprehend  from  the  restoration  of  the 
Bourbons,  —  that  the  jealousy  which  ought  to  survive  against 
France,  as  France,  will  sleep  in  the  ashes  of  the  Napoleon  dy- 
nasty.   Such  are  my  wishes,  hopes,  fears,  and  expectations. 

The  counter-revolution  in  France  has  not  gratified  our  van- 
ity. It  comes  like  a  blessing  of  Providence  or  a  gift  of 
nature,  and  these  are  received  with  quiet  gratitude.  Hence 
the  want  of  enthusiasm  in  the  public  mind,  although  the  gen- 
eral sentiment  is  joy.  Cobbett  and  Sir  Richard  Phillips*  alone 
express  sorrow,  and  the  Morning  Chronicle  betrays  an  unpa- 
triotic spirit.  Of  my  own  personal  acquaintance,  only  Will 
Hazlitt  and  poor  Capel  Loflt  are  among  the  malecontents. 

May  7th,  —  Took  tea  at  Flaxman's.  He  spoke  highly  of 
the  great  variety  of  talents  possessed  by  Lawrence.  On  occa- 
sion of  the  contest  for  the  professorship  of  painting  between 
Opie  and  Fuseli,  Flaxman  says,  Lawrence  made  an  extempore 
speech  in  support  of  Fuseli  better  than  any  speech  he  (Flax- 
man)  ever  heard.  "  But,"  said  Flaxman,  "  Lawrence's  powers 
are  almost  his  ruin.  He  is  ever  in  company.  One  person  ad- 
mires his  singing,  another  his  reading,  another  his  conversa- 
tional talents,  and  he  is  overwhelmed  with  engagements.  T 
have  heard  Hazlitt  say,  "  No  good  talker  will  ever  labor  enough 
to  become  a  good  painter." 

May  15th,  —  Called  on  the  Colliers.  I  am  glad  to  feel  that 
there  is  a  return  of  cordiality  which  had  been  on  the  decline 
between  me  and  these  old  friends.  There  is  so  much  positive 
pleasure  in  every  kindly  feeling,  that  certainly  it  is  not  wisdom 

*  The  author  and  bookseller.  He  was  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Monthly 
Magazine^  and  was  the  compiler  of  many  popular  volumes. 


276     EEMiNISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

to  criticise  whether  it  is  justified.  Friendship,  more  assuredly 
than  virtue,  is  its  own  reward.  Lamb  and  his  sister  were 
there,  and  expressed  great  kindness  towards  me,  which  gave 
me  much  pleasure.  They  are,  indeed,  among  the  very  best  of 
persons.  Their  moral  qualities  are  as  distinguished  as  their 
intellectual. 

May  19th.  —  I  accompanied  Anthony  and  Mrs.  Robinson  to 
Drury  Lane  to  see  Kean  play  Othello.  The  long  trial  of  wait- 
ing before  the  door  having  been  endured,  the  gratification  was 
very  great.  Of  all  the  characters  in  which  I  have  yet  seen 
Kean,  Othello  is  the  one  for  which  by  nature  he  is  the  least 
qualified  ;  yet  it  is  the  one  in  which  he  has  most  delighted 
me.  Kean  has  little  grace  or  beauty  in  mere  oratorical  decla- 
mation, but  in  the  bursts  of  passion  he  surpasses  any  male 
actor  I  ever  saw.    His  delivery  of  the  speech  in  which  he  says, 

Othello's  occupation 's  gone,"  was  as  pathetic  as  a  lover's  fare- 
well to  his  mistress.  I  could  hardly  keep  from  crying ;  it  was 
pure  feeling.  In  the  same  scene  the  expression  of  rage  is  in- 
imitable. 

May  26th. — Dined  with  Mr.  George  Young.*  A  large 
party.  Present  were  Dr.  Spurzheim,  now  the  lion  of  the  day, 
as  the  apostle  of  craniology,  —  ten  years  ago  he  was  the  famu- 
lus of  the  discoverer  Gall ;  Mason  Good,  poet,  lecturer,  and  sur- 
geon ;  Drs.  Gooch  and  Parke  ;  my  friend  Hamond ;  Charles 
Young,  the  rival  of  Kean  at  Covent  Garden,  and  another  broth- 
er of  our  host ;  Ayton,  an  attorney ;  and  Westall,  the  R.  A. 
Spurzheim  appeared  to  advantage  as  the  opponent  of  Mason 
Good,  who  was  wordy,  and  I  thought  opposed  close  intellectual 
reasoning  by  a  profusion  of  technicalities.  Spurzheim  preached 
from  the  skulls  of  several  of  us,  and  was  tolerably  successful 
in  his  guesses,  though  not  with  me,  for  he  gave  me  theosophy, 
and  tried  to  make  a  philosopher  of  me.  To  Hamond  he  gave 
the  organs  of  circumspection  and  the  love  of  children.  To 
Charles  Young  that  of  representation,  but  he  probably  knew 
he  was  an  actor. 

May  27th.  —  The  forenoon  at  the  Old  Bailey  Sessions. 
Walked  back  with  Stephen.f  He  related  that  Romilly  thinks 
Lord  Eldon  one  of  the  profoundest  and  most  learned  lawyers 
who  ever  lived ;  yet  he  considers  his  infirmity  as  a  practical 
doubter  so  fatal,  that  he  infinitely  prefers  Erskine  as  a  Chan- 

*  An  eminent  surgeon,  of  whom  more  hereafter. 

t  The  emancipationist.  He  was  brother-in-law  to  Wilberforce,  and  the 
father  of  the  late  Sir  James  Stephen,  the  Professor  of  History. 


1814.] 


LORD  COCHEANE. 


277 


cellor.  Though  his  mind  and  legal  habits  are  of  so  different  a 
class,  his  good  sense  and  power  of  prompt  decision  enable  him 
to  administer  justice  usefully. 

June  18th.  — This  was  a  high  festival  in  the  City,  the  corpora- 
tion  giving  a  superb  entertainment  to  the  Prince  Regent  and 
his  visitors,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  King  of  Prussia,  &c.  Took 
a  hasty  dinner  at  Collier's,  and  then  witnessed  the  procession 
from  Fleet  Street.  It  was  not  a  gratifying  spectacle,  for  there 
was  no  continuity  in  the  scene  ;  but  some  of  the  distinct  ob- 
jects were  interesting.  The  Royal  carriages  were  splendid,  but 
my  ignorance  of  the  individuals  who  filled  them  prevented  my 
having  much  pleasure.  My  friend  Mrs.  W.  Pattisson  brought 
her  boys  to  see  the  sight,  and  she  did  wisely,  for  she  has  en- 
riched their  memories  with  recollections  which  time  will  exalt 
to  great  value.  It  will  in  their  old  age  be  a  subject  of  great 
pleasure  that  at  the  ages  of  eleven  and  ten  they  beheld  the 
persons  of  the  greatest  sovereigns  of  the  time,  and  witnessed 
the  festivities  consequent  on  the  peace  which  fixed  (may  it 
prove  so  !)  the  independence  and  repose  of  Europe. 

June  21st.  —  Again  in  the  King's  Bench.  The  sentence  of 
the  pillory  was  passed  against  Lord  Cochrane  and  others  for  a 
fraud  to  raise  the  price  of  stock  by  spreading  false  news.  The 
severity  of  the  sentence  has  turned  public  opinion  in  favor  of 
his  Lordship,  and  they  who  first  commiserated  him  began  after- 
wards to  think  him  innocent.  His  appearance  to-day  was  cer- 
tainly pitiable.  When  the  sentence  was  passed  he  stood  with- 
out color  in  his  face,  his  eye  staring  and  without  expression  ; 
and  when  he  left  the  court  it  was  with  difficulty,  as  if  he  were 
stupefied.* 

June  29th.  —  Called  on  Lamb  in  the  evening.  Found  him 
as  delighted  as  a  child  with  a  garret  he  had  appropriated  and 
adorned  with  all  the  copper-plate  engravings  he  could  collect, 
having  rifled  every  book  he  possesses  for  the  purpose.  It  was 
pleasant  to  observe  his  innocent  delight.  Schiller  says  all 
great  men  have  a  childlikeness  in  their  nature. 

*  Lord  Dundonald,  in  a  note  to  an  extract  from  Campbell's  "  Lives  of  the 
Chief  Justices,"  where  it  is  mentioned  that  he  was  sentenced  to  stand  in  the 
pillory,  says :  — 

"  This  vindictive  sentence  the  government  did  not  dare  carry  out.  My  high- 
minded  colleague,  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  told  the  government  that,  if  the  sen- 
tence was  carried  into  effect,  he  would  stand  in  the  pillory  beside  me,  when 
they  must  look  to  the  consequences.  What  these  might  have  been,  in  the 
then  excited  state  of  the  public  mind,  as  regarded  my  treatment,  the  reader 
may  guess." —  The  Autobiography  of  a  Seaman.  By  Thomas,  Tenth  Earl 
of  Dundonald,  G.  C.  B.    Second  edition.    London,  1861.    Vol.  II.  p.  322,  note. 


278     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 


July  3d.  —  A  day  of  great  pleasure.  Charles  Lamb  and  I 
walked  to  Enfield  by  Southgate,  after  an  early  breakfast  in 
his  chambers.  We  were  most  hospitably  received  by  Anthony 
Robinson  and  his  wife.  After  tea,  Lamb  and  I  returned.  The 
whole  day  most  delightfully  fine,  and  the  scenery  very  agreea- 
ble. Lamb  cared  for  the  walk  more  than  the  scenery,  for  the 
enjoyment  of  which  he  seems  to  have  no  great  susceptibility. 
His  great  delight,  even  in  preference  to  a  country  walk,  is  a 
stroll  in  London.  The  shops  and  the  busy  streets,  such  as 
Thames  Street,  Bankside,  &c.,  are  his  great  favorites.  He, 
for  the  same  reason,  has  no  great  relish  for  landscape  painting. 
But  his  relish  for  historic  painting  is  exquisite.  Lamb's 
peculiarities  are  very  interesting.  We  had  not  much  con- 
versation, —  he  hummed  tunes,  I  repeated  Wordsworth's 
^'  Daffodils,"  of  which  I  am  become  very  fond.  Lamb  praised 
T.  Warton's  "  Sonnet  in  Dugdale"  as  of  first-rate  excellence.* 
It  is  a  good  thought,  but  I  find  nothing  exquisite  in  it.  He 
praised  Prior's  courtly  poems,  —  his  "  Down  Hall,"  —  his  fine 
application  of  the  names  of  Marlborough,  so  as  to  be  offensive 
in  the  ears  of  Boileau. 

July  Jftlu  —  Took  (early  tea  with  Flaxman,  to  whom  I  read 
an  admirable  criticism  by  Hazlitt  on  West's  picture  of  the 

Rejection  of  Christ."  A  bitter  and  severe  but  most  excellent 
performance.  Flaxman  was  constrained  to  admit  the  high 
talent  of  the  criticism,  though  he  was  unaffectedly  pained  by 
its  severity ;  but  he  was  himself  offended  by  West's  attempt 
to  represent  this  sacred  subject. 

July  6th.  —  Dr.  Tiarks  t  breakfasted  with  me,  and  we  spent 
an  hour  and  a  half  very  pleasantly.  Tiarks  says  that  he 
understands  Buonaparte  said  to  the  Austrian  commissioner. 

The  King  of  Saxony  is  the  honestest  king  in  Europe.  If  the 
allies  dethrone  him,  they  will  do  a  more  tyrannical  act  than  I 
ever  did.  I  have  dethroned  many  kings  in  my  time,  but  I  was 
a  parvenu,  and  it  was  necessary  ff)r  my  safety.  The  old  legiti- 
mate sovereigns  should  act  on  other  principles." 

July  29th,  —  Mr.  Wakefield  called  on  me  with  Jeremy  Ben- 
tham's     Panopticon,"  and  he  occupied  me  till  one  o'clock. 

*  This  Sonnet  was  "  Written  in  a  Blank  Leaf  of  Dugdale's  *  Monasticon.'  " 
t  A  Frieslander  by  birth,  he  became  a  candidate  in  theology  at  Gottingen, 
but  had  notice  that  he  had  been  drawn  as  a  conscript,  and  would  be  seized  as 
such.  Flying  from  the  army,  he  begged  his  way  to  England,  where  he  main- 
tained himself  first  as  a  private  librarian  to  Sir  itoseph  Banks,  and  afterwards, 
with  considerable  success,  as  a  teacher  of  German,  Greek,  and  mathematics. — 
H.  C.  R. 


1814.] 


JEREMY  BENTHAM.  —  KASTNER. 


279 


Wakefield  belongs  to  Jeremy  Bentham's  select  society.  He  is 
voted  nobody^  i.  e.  free  of  the  house.  He  gives  an  interesting 
account  of  the  philosopher's  abode,  where  a  Panopticon  school 
is  to  be  erected.  Bentham's  constant  inmates  are  Koe,  whom 
I  have  seen,  and  Mill,  whom  I  dined  with  at  Hamond's,  and 
whom  Wakefield  represents  as  one  of  the  greatest  men  of 
the  present  day.  He  is  writing  a  history  of  India.  Wakefield 
says  that  Bentham  has  considerable  respect  for  Hamond's  un- 
derstanding. 

July  SI  St.  —  Read  Bentham's  "  Panopticon  "  and  first  Ap- 
pendix. All  that  respected  the  moral  economy  of  his  plan 
interested  me  greatly,  but  for  want  of  plates  I  could  not 
comprehend  the  mechanical  structure.  The  book  is  (as  all 
Bentham's  are)  full  of  original  and  very  valuable  matter. 
But  it  would  possibly  have  had  more  effect  if  it  had  con- 
tained fewer  novelties  in  substance  and  in  language.  Men 
are  prepared  to  oppose  when  novelty  is  ostentatiously  an- 
nounced. 

August  ISth.  —  (At  Norwich.)  Accompanied  some  friends 
to  the  theatre.  The  actors  did  not  edify  me.  Stole  out  to 
call  on  Madge,  at  whose  apartments  I  found  the  great  new 
poem  of  Wordsworth,  "  The  Excursion."  I  could  only  look 
into  the  preface  and  read  a  few  extracts  with  Madge.  It  is  a 
poem  of  formidable  size,  and  I  fear  too  mystical  to  be  popular. 
It  will,  however,  put  an  end  to  the  sneers  of  those  who  con- 
sider, or  affect  to  consider,  him  puerile.  But  it  w^ill  possibly 
draw  on  him  the  imputation  of  dulness.  Still,  I  trust  it  will 
strengthen  the  zeal  of  his  few  friends.  My  anxiety  is  great  to 
read  it. 

August  18th.  —  Tiarks  brought  Kastner  to  me.  Kastner  is 
an  enthusiast,  but  his  enthusiasm  impels  to  action,  and  it  is  ac- 
companied by  talent  of  very  high  rank  and  great  variety. 
Having  distinguished  himself  as  a  chemist,  he  became  Volks- 
redner  (orator  for  the  people)  ;  and  he  is  now  striving  to  in- 
terest the  government  in  favor  of  freemasonry,  in  order  to 
oppose  priestcraft,  which  he  thinks  is  reviving.  He  also  con- 
ducted a  newspaper,  and  assisted  in  raising  the  Prussian 
Landwehr.  Having  fought  with  this  body  in  France,  he 
came  to  England  to  solicit  a  grant  out  of  the  contributions 
for  the  Germans  in  favor  of  the  Landwehr.  Though  every 
one  thought  his  attempts  vain,  he  has  succeeded  in  obtaining 
£  1,000,  and  hopes  for  much  more,  out  of  the  Parliamentary 
grant. 


280     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 


H.  C.  R.  TO  Mrs.  Pattisson. 

Bury  St.  Edmunds,  July  27,  1814. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  Though  my  own  plans  were  in  some 
measure  disarranged  by  it,  I  was  sincerely  glad  to  hear  that 
you  had  resolved  to  undertake  the  northern  journey.  I  trust 
it  has  proved  to  you  a  source  of  other  pleasures  than  those 
for  the  sake  of  which  you  made  it.  The  reward  which  Solo- 
mon received  for  a  wise  choice  of  the  blessings  of  life  I  have 

very  frequently  seen  conferred  on  a  small  scale  I  should 

be  very  glad  if  some  accident  were  to  bring  you  acquainted 
with  any  of  the  Stansfelds.  That  is  so  highly  estimable  a 
family,  that  I  could  almost  consider  myself  the  friend  of  every 
member  of  it,  meaning  only  to  express  my  very  peculiar  esteem 
for  them  

I  have  just  risen  from  the  perusal  of  the  most  admirable 
discourse  on  friendship  which  I  believe  was  ever  penned.  It 
is  a  sort  of  sermon  without  a  text  by  Jeremy  Taylor ;  so  de- 
lightful that,  if  I  had  no  other  means  of  conveying  it  to  you, 
I  think  I  could  almost  walk  to  Witham  from  Bury  with  the 
folio  volume  containing  it  in  my  hand,  in  order  to  have  the 
delight  of  reading  it  to  you.  Though  it  is  arrant  pedantry  to 
fill  a  letter  with  quotations,  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of 
quoting  two  or  three  golden  sayings. 

Soame  Jenyns,  you  may  recollect,  vindicates  Christianity  for 
excluding  from  its  system  those /a/^e  virtues,  patriotism,  valor, 
and  friendship  !  !  !  This  very  insidious  paradox  —  in  effect, 
not  intention,  I  mean  —  is  as  to  friendship,  with  equal  truth 
and  beauty,  thus  exhibited  by  Jeremy  Taylor  :  *^  By  friend- 
ship you  mean  the  greatest  love,  the  greatest  usefulness,  and 
the  most  open  communication,  and  the  noblest  sufferings,  and 
the  severest  truth,  and  the  heartiest  counsel,  and  the  greatest 
union  of  minds,  of  which  brave  men  and  women  are  capable. 
But  then  I  must  tell  you  that  Christianity  hath  new  christened 

it,  and  called  it  charity  Christian  charity  is  friendship  to 

all  the  world.  And  when  friendships  were  the  noblest  things 
in  the  world  "  (referring,  I  suspect,  to  Cicero,  <fec.),  "  charity 
was  little  like  the  sun  drawn  in  at  a  chink,  or  his  beams  drawn 
into  the  centre  of  a  burning-glass  ;  but  Christian  charity  is 
friendship  expanded,  like  the  face  of  the  sun  when  it  mounts 
the  eastern  hills."  Still,  the  individual  appropriation  of  love 
was  to  be  explained  ;  he  therefore  goes  on  :  There  is  enough 
in  every  man  that  is  willing  to  make  him  become  our  friend, 


1814.] 


KASTNER. 


281 


but  where  men  contract  friendships  they  enclose  the  commons, 
and  what  nature  intended  should  be  every  man's,  we  make 
proper  to  two  or  three."  In  these  lines  are  contained  all  the 
ideas  necessary  to  a  development  of  friendship  speculatively. 
The  following  sentences  are  gems  :  "  He  that  does  a  base 
thing  in  zeal  for  his  friend  burns  the  golden  thread  that  ties 
their  hearts  together."  "  Secrecy  is  the  chastity  of  friend- 
ship."   ^'  Friendship  is  charity  in  society." 

If  I  can,  I  will  take  a  hait  at  Witham  on  my  way  from 
Norwich  to  London  ;  but  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  stay  even 
a  day  with  you.  One  circumstance  may  call  me  to  town  earlier 
than  I  might  otherwise  have  thought  necessary.  I  have 
received  some  letters  from  a  most  amiable  and  worthy  man,  a 
Jena  acquaintance,  who  has  made  a  journey  to  London,  in 
order  to  solicit  relief  for  a  particular  class  of  sufferers,  —  the 
Prussian  Landwehr.  He  seems  to  expect  great  assistance  from 
me,  and  it  will  be  a  painful  task  to  me  to  show  him  that  I  can 
do  nothing.  He  is  a  benevolent  Quixote.  He  has  written  me 
an  account  of  his  life,  and  his  sufferings  and  pathetic  tale  will 
interest  you.  He  is  made  up  of  love  of  every  kind,  —  to  his 
wife -and  children,  to  his  country,  for  which  he  fought,  and  to 
religion,  to  which  he  seems  devotedly  attached.  I  wrote  to 
Aders  to  offer  Kastner  my  chambers  during  my  absence ;  but 
Aders  has  procured  him  a  lodging  at  six  shillings  a  week, 
Kastner  has  luckily  met  with  my  friends  in  town. 

You  will  expect  to  hear  of  the  success  of  my  Sessions  Circuit. 
It  was  not  so  productive  as  I  expected,  from  the  retirement  of 
Twiss,  but  this  was  more  from  the  want  of  business  than  from 
the  preference  of  others  before  me.  At  Norwich  and  Bury,  I 
had  more  than  my  reasonable  share  of  business.  At  Bury, 
not  even  Alderson  held  a  brief,  or  had  a  motion  ;  the  very 
little  was  divided  between  Storks  and  myself,  I  taking  a  third. 
However,  my  individual  success  is  great,  though  the  decline  of 
professional  business  in  general  is  enough  to  alarm  a  man  now 
entering  into  it.    Lawyers  have  had  their  day  ! 

Your  affectionate  Friend, 

H.  C.  Robinson. 

Rem,^  —  During  my  fifteen  years  at  the  bar,  I  relieved  my- 
self from  the  dulness  of  a  London  professional  life  by  annual 
excursions,  of  all  of  wiiich  I  kept  Journals.  In  collecting 
reminiscences  from  them,  I  shall  for  the  most  part  omit  de- 

*  Written  in  1850. 


282     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

scriptions  of  places,  and  confine  myself  to  the  persons  I  saw. 
The  present  journey  in  France  immediately  followed  that  great 
event,  the  restoration  of  tha  French  monarchy,  after  twenty- 
five  years  of  revolution. 

August  26th,  —  Arrived  at  Kouen  in  the  evening,  and  heard 
that  Mademoiselle  Duchesnois  was  to  perform.  Tired  and 
even  hungry  as  I  was,  I  instantly  set  out  for  the  theatre,  and 
went  into  the  pit,  which  had  no  seats,  and  where  the  audience 
was  very  low.  The  play  was  the  "  Hamlet,"  not  of  Shake- 
,  speare  but  of  Ducis,  and  therefore  the  first  impression  was  a 
very  mixed  one.  On  my  entrance  Duchesnois,  as  Queen,  was 
relating  to  her  confidante  the  history  of  her  two  marriages. 
So  much  I  could  understand,  and  that  was  all ;  and  this  an- 
noyed me.  Then  the  actress  herself  was  really  ugly.  But,  in 
spite  of  all  this,  such  is  the  power  of  real  talent,  that  in  a 
very  short  time  I  caught  myself  violently  applauding.  Of  the 
actress's  declamation  I  was  no  judge,  but  of  course  it  was 
good,  as  the  French  are  inexorable  on  this  point.  I  could, 
however,  feel  the  truthfulness  of  her  expression  of  passion. 
Her  tones  were  pathetic.  Yet  there  must  be  something  con- 
ventional in  such  things.  Of  the  other  actors  I  have  nothing 
to  say ;  nor  of  the  play,  but  that  it  is  truly  French.  The 
unities  are  preserved,  and  Hamlet  is  victorious.  No  more 
need  be  said.  But  what  was  more  remarkable  than  the  play 
was  the  display  of  national  feeling.  At  Dieppe,  indeed,  the 
children  had  shouted  after  us  in  the  street,  Allez  vous  en  " ; 
and  in  the  scene  in  which  Shakespeare  has  but  a  poor  joke 
about  the  English  being  mad,  Ducis  has  substituted  a  line  of 
grave  reproach,  — 

"  L' Angleterre  fut  toujours  dans  les  crimes  f^conde." 

On  this  the  fellows  who  were  next  me  all  turned  their  feces 
towards  me  and  clapped  lustily.  I  may  mention  that,  after 
dinner,  as  I  was  walking,  I  stopped  to  talk  with  a  peasant, 
who  laid  down  his  tool  and  jumped  over  a  ditch  to  chat  with 
me.  He  was  a  strong  anti-revolutionist.  The  good  king,  he 
said,  must  take  care  to  disband  his  army,  or  he  would  never 
be  safe.  The  army  are  friendly  to  the  Emperor,  their  opin- 
ions about  him  having  a  great  deal  of  a  jprofessional  char- 
acter. 

August  29tlu  —  I  went  by  the  lower  road  to  Paris  in  a  dili- 
gence through  St.  Germains,  &c.,  and  arrived  at  Paris  the  next 
day ;  and  an  accident  led  me  at  once  to  a  decent  hotel  in  the 


1814.]  PARIS  AFTER  THE  RESTORATION.  283 

Eue  Montmartre.  Fortunately  for  me,  Mr.  Clarkson  is  here, 
hoping  by  personal  intercourse  with  the  Emperor  of  Russia, 
Duke  of  Wellington,  &c.,  to  obtain  some  stringent  measures  to 
enforce  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  Mrs.  Clarkson  is  with 
him. 

September  1st,  —  I  walked  with  John  Thelwall  and  his  party 
to  the  famous  Chateau  or  prison  of  Yincennes,  being  intro- 
duced to  the  governor  by  the  curate.  We  afterwards  dined  at 
a  restaurant  and  walked  back.  As  we  reached  the  harriere, 
Thelwall  discovered  that  he  had  lost  his  purse,  containing 
about  twenty  napoleons.  He  recollected  taking  it  out  of  his 
pocket  to  pay  for  the  dinner.  We  all  returned  with  him  to  the 
hotel ;  the  house  was  shut.  On  knocking,  a  chamber  window 
was  opened,  and  we  heard  a  female  voice  exclaim,  "  Ah !  ce 
sont  Messieurs  les  Anglais,  pour  la  bourse  !  "  The  maid  and 
her  mistress  came  down  together ;  the  former,  who  had  found 
the  purse  on  the  table,  had  it  in  her  hand,  with  an  expression 
of  great  joy  at  being  able  to  restore  it;  and  she  received 
Thelwall's  present  very  becomingly. 

September  2d,  —  I  accompanied  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarkson  to 
the  library  of  the  institution  at  the  Quatre  Nations,  where  I 
was  introduced  to  the  celebrated  ex-Bishop  of  Blois,  Gregoire, 
leader  of  the  society  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  which  made  him 
the  close  ally  of  Clarkson. 

Rem*  —  I  acquired  the  privilege  of  calling  on  Gregoire  on 
my  future  visits  to  Paris,  and  generally  availed  myself  of  it. 
The  impression  he  made  on  me  to-day  was  not  removed  by  the 
disgrace  cast  on  him  afterwards.  He  seemed  to  me  to  be  a 
kind-hearted,  benevolent  man,  with  no  great  strength  of  under- 
standing, and  somewhat  of  a  petit-maitre  in  his  habits. 

September  Jfth.  —  I  accompanied  the  Thelwall  party  to  the 
Louvre,  and  thence  to  the  house  of  David,  who  was  there  the 
exhibitor  of  his  own  paintings.  Whether  it  was  because  I 
knew  him  to  have  been  the  friend  of  Robespierre,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Revolutionary  tribunal,  or  not,  T  cannot  say,  but 
his  countenance  seemed  to  me  to  express  ferocity.  It  was  de- 
formed by  a  harelip. 

September  7th.  —  The  consecration  of  the  colors  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard,  at  which  attended  the  King  and  all  the  authori- 
ties of  Paris,  was  of  course  not  to  be  neglected.  The  applause 
given  to  the  King  was  faint.  From  a  few  there  were  loud 
cries.  One  voice  was  remarkable,  and  I  recognized  it  on 
several  days. 

*  Written  in  1850. 


284    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

September  8th,  —  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  recognizing  Talley- 
rand from  his  resemblance  to  the  engravings  of  him.  The 
expression  of  his  countenance  as  he  passed  was,  I  thought, 
that  of  a  voluptuary  and  a  courtier,  rather  than  that  of  a  poli- 
tician and  man  of  business.  He  spoke  to  his  coachman  in  an 
arrogant  tone.  His  thin  legs  and  sorry  figure  below  the  waist 
hardly  justify  the  term  cripple  ;  but  I  looked  for  and  perceived 
the  club-foot,  to  remove  all  doubt  as  to  his  identity.  I  fancy 
I  can  judge  better  of  Talleyrand's  character  from  having  had  a 
glimpse  of  his  person. 

September  9th.  —  My  brother  was  with  me  at  the  Theatre 
Frangais,  and  I  was  amused  by  being  asked  twice  whether  he 
was  not  le  grand  tragique  Kemble,  —  celui  qui  joue  les  pre- 
mieres roles  a  Londres."  The  inquirers  seemed  to  disbelieve 
my  denial. 

September  10th  and  11th.  —  These  days  were  distinguished 
by  my  being  in  the  company  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  of  the  French  Revolution,  General  La  Fayette.  By  no 
means  one  of  the  ablest  or  greatest,  but  I  believe,  in  intention 
at  least,  one  of  the  best ;  and  one  who  has  been  placed  in  po- 
sitions both  of  danger  and  of  show  at  critical  moments  beyond 
every  other  individual.  Of  all  the  revolutionary  leaders,  he  is 
the  one  of  w^hom  I  think  most  favorably ;  and  my  favorable 
impression  was  enhanced  by  what  I  heard  from  him.  I  was 
with  Mr.  Clarkson  when  La  Fayette  called  on  him,  and  I  was 
greatly  surprised  at  his  appearance.  I  expected  to  see  an  in- 
firm old  man,  on  whose  countenance  I  should  trace  the  marks 
of  suffering  from  long  imprisonment  and  cruel  treatment.  I 
saw  a  hale  man  with  a  florid  complexion,  and  no  signs  of  age 
about  him.  In  fact,  he  is  fifty-seven  years  old,  his  reddish 
complexion  clear,  his  body  inclining  to  be  stout.  His  tone  of 
conversation  is  staid,  and  he  has  not  the  vivacity  commonly 
ascribed  to  Frenchmen.  There  is  apparently  nothing  enthu- 
siastic about  him. 

The  slave-trade  was  the  subject  which  brought  the  General 
and  Clarkson  together,  and  it  engrossed,  I  thought,  too  much 
of  the  conversation.  La  Fayette  confirmed  Clarkson's  opinion, 
that  the  Emperor  of  Russia  was  perfectly  sincere  and  even 
zealous  in  the  wish  which  he  expressed  at  Madame  de  Stael's,  in 
opposition  to  the  Portuguese  Minister,  to  secure  the  abolition 
of  the  slave-trade.  He  also  gave  credit  to  Talleyrand  for  his 
sincerity  in  the  same  wish ;  "  But  certainly,"  said  La  Fayette, 
"  he  is  not  an  enthusiast  in  anything."    Among  the  subjects  of 


1814.] 


LAFAYETTE  AND  BUONAPAKTE. 


285 


reproach  against  Buonaparte  was  his  restoration  of  slavery; 
and  La  Fayette  imputed  to  him  an  artifice  by  which  he  had 
made  it  appear  that  La  Fayette  had  sold  slaves.  He  had  pur- 
chased an  estate  in  order  to  assist  the  abolition,  and  when 
slavery  was  abolished  by  law,  he  sold  the  estate,  and  the  nota- 
ry put  the  word  slaves  into  the  contract.  La  Fayette  refused 
to  sign  unless  the  word  was  erased.  "  But,"  said  the  notary, 
"  if  there  are  none,  the  word  has  no  effect,  and  no  one  can  tell 
what  may  happen."  La  Fayette  inferred  from  this  that  the 
scheme  to  restore  slavery  was  formed,  which  did  soon  take 
place.  And  though  he  had  done  all  he  could  by  law  to  declare 
these  slaves  free,  they  were  made  slaves  at  last. 

I  was  particularly  desirous  of  hearing  from  La  Fayette  him- 
self some  account  of  the  relation  in  which  he  stood  towards 
Buonaparte,  and  of  knowing  his  opinion  of  the  Emperor.  In 
this  I  was  gratified.  He  related  that,  after  enduring  a  severe 
imprisonment  of  three  years  in  an  Austrian  dungeon,*  on 
which  he  seemed  unwilling  to  enlarge,  he  was  at  last  set  at 
liberty  because  the  French  Directory  refused  to  discuss  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  at  Leoben  until  he  and  his  friends  were 
released.  Buonaparte  was  one  of  the  commissioners  in  making 
that  treaty,  and  he  executed  his  orders  with  firmness.  La 
Fayette  went  at  first  to  Hamburg,  and  would  not  proceed  at 
once  to  Paris,  because  a  declaration  was  required  of  him  which 
he  could  not  make.  At  the  time  of  the  negotiations  about 
him  the  revolution  of  Fructidor  took  place,  when  two  of  the 
Directory  were  sent  to  Cayenne.  "  Now,"  said  La  Fayette, 
I  was  called  upon  to  make  such  an  acknowledgment  as  would 
give  all  the  credit  of  my  release  to  those  remaining  in  power. 
This  I  refused."  This  would  have  given  the  men  then  in 
power  all  the  eclat  of  his  deliverance.  But  on  the  revolution 
which  made  Buonaparte  First  Consul,  he  went  to  Paris  without 
a  passport.  He  had  scarcely  arrived  when  he  was  waited  upon 
by  —  I  doubt  whether  Duroc  or  Caulaincourt,  who  said  that 
the  First  Consul  wished  him  to  return  to  Hamburg  secretly, 
in  order  that  he  might  show  his  high  esteem  for  him  by  calling 
him  back  in  a  formal  manner.  ^'  I  saw  through  the  trick," 
said  La  Fayette,  "  and  would  not  be  a  party  to  it.  I  there- 
fore said  that  I  had  come  back  because  I  had  a  right,  being  a 
Frenchman  who  had  committed  no  crime  ;  that  if  the  chief 
magistrate  commanded  me  to  go  I  would  obey.  I  was  told 
that  the  First  Consul  meant  only  to  do  me  honor.  Though 

*  In  the  fortress  of  Olmutz  in  Moravia. 


286     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

I  had  defeated  his  scheme  of  doing  an  act  of  ostentatious  dis- 
play, he  received  me  with  pohteness  ;  and  for  a  time  I  was 
deceived,  but  not  long,  and  I  never  concealed  my  opinion  of 
him.  I  saw  him  eight  or  ten  times  on  business,  and  at  a  fete 
given  by  Joseph  Buonaparte  on  the  peace  between  France  and 
America  (for  the  Directory  had  made  a  war  as  foolish  as  your 
present  war  with  America)  we  had  some  conversation.  He  as- 
sured me  that  his  designs  were  all  in  favor  of  liberty,  and  that 
whatever  might  appear  to  be  otherwise  would  be  only  tempo- 
rary expedients.  I  answered  that  it  was  the  direction  (tenden- 
cy) of  some  of  his  actions  that  I  disapproved  of  more  than  of  the 
actions  themselves.  On  another  occasion  Buonaparte  said  to 
me,  ^  You  see  the  French  are  tired  of  liberty.'  I  answered, 
'  They  are  tired  of  licentiousness,  and  what  they  have  suffered 
from  the  abuse  of  liberty  makes  them  more  anxious  to  have 
real  liberty,  and  more  fit  to  enjoy  it ;  and  this,  Citizen  First 
Consul,  the  French  expect  from  you.'  Buonaparte  turned 
away,  but  in  a  few  minutes  came  back  and  talked  on  indifferent 
subjects.  After  this  I  retired  into  the  country,  and  took  no 
share  in  public  business.  Buonaparte  afterwards  tried  to  in- 
volve me  in  some  sham  plot,  but  my  entire  seclusion  rendered 
that  impossible.  When  Buonaparte  returned  from  Russia  he 
made  a  speech,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  antimonarchical  prin- 
ciples of  the  first  authors  of  the  Revolution,  which  made  them 
impede  the  measures  of  the  government,  alluding  to,  but  not 
naming,  me." 

I  have  pleasure  in  writing  down  -these  recollections  of  La 
Fayette's  words,  because  they  are  distinct,  and  because  they 
disprove  what  has  been  falsely  asserted  by  the  partisans  of 
Buonaparte,  that  La  Fayette  was  reconciled  to  him. 

Of  the  future.  La  Fayette  spoke  with  a  hope  which  it  gratified 
me  to  hear,  and  he  spoke  respectfully  of  the  royal  family  then 
restored.  On  general  subjects  I  have  a  few  notes  worth  abridg- 
ing. He  asserted  that  the  manners  of  the  French,  especially 
the  lower  classes,  had  been  improved  by  the  Revolution  ;  that 
the  mob  of  France  were  less  violent  than  an  English  mob; 
and  the  common  people  he  thought  more  honest.  This  he  as- 
cribed to  the  Revolution. 

La  Fayette  is  a  strong  partisan  of  America,  as  opposed  to 
England.  He  is  strongly  opposed  to  our  maritime  claims,  and 
thinks  we  might  concede  these  in  return  for  the  renunciation 
of  the  slave-trade  by  other  powers. 

On  my  relating  that,  at  the  distribution  of  the  colors,  I 


1814.]  THE  FRIENDS  OF  THE  NEGRO.  287 


heard  some  exclamations  of  "Vive  I'Empereur,"  La  Fayette 
said  :  "  You  are  not  to  suppose  that  this  proceeded  from  love 
to  Buonaparte.  It  was  only  a  mode  of  showing  dissatisfaction 
with  the  present  state  of  things,  and  because  it  would  not  do 
to  cry  '  A  bas  le  roi,'  or  '  A  bas  les  ministeres.'  " 

Of  Spanish  America  he  said  that  Jefferson  was  of  opinion 
that  those  states  would  ultimately  become  independent,  but 
that  this  would  rather  retard  than  advance  civilization. 

Rem*  —  I  visited  the  residence  of  Josephine  at  Malmaison, 
which  has  left  a  more  distinct  impression  on  my  mind  than 
the  other  regal  palaces  of  the  capital.  One  picture  there  im- 
pressed me  so  strongly  that  I  have  never  forgotten  it.  Of  the 
artistic  merits  I  know  nothing.  It  was  a  prison  scene.  A 
man  in  chains  has  drawn  with  chalk  a  figure  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child,  which  the  other  prisoners  are  worshipping;  that  is, 
they  are  kneeling,  —  all  except  one  wretch  who  is  in  despair, 
the  officers  of  justice  having  come  to  take  him  to  the  gallows.f 

I  read  also  in  my  Journal  a  name  which  brings  to  my  recol- 
lection a  fact  omitted  in  the  Journal  itself  The  name  is 
Count  St.  Maurice,  an  elegant  cavalier,  an  emigrant  and  high- 
"  toned  royalist,  also  a  warm  abolitionist.  One  day,  when  I  was 
present,  Clarkson  saying  that  he  was  going  to  see  La  Fayette 
and  Gregoire,  the  Count,  in  a  plaintive  rather  than  reproachful 
tone,  said,  My  dear  sir,  I  wish  you  did  not  see  so  much  of 
those  people."  Clarkson  replied,  very  gravely  :  "  Monsieur  le 
Comte,  you  forget  that,  now  that  I  am  at  Paris,  I  know  but 
two  classes  of  persons,  —  the  friends  and  the  enemies  of  Africa. 
All  the  friends  of  Africa  are  my  friends,  whatever  they  maybe 
besides.  You  and  Monsieur  La  Fayette  are  the  same  ^in  my 
eyes."  St.  Maurice  smiled  and  said,  "  I  believe  you  are  in 
the  right." 

SepUmber  22d,  —  I  was  in  the  grand  gallery  at  the  Louvre 
when  I  heard  some  one  say,  Mrs.  Siddons  is  below."  I  in- 
stantly left  the  Raphaels  and  Titians,  and  went  in  search  of 
her,  and  my  Journal  says :  "  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  confess  that 
the  sight  of  her  gave  me  a  delight  beyond  almost  any  I  have 
received  in  Paris."    I  had  never  seen  her  so  near.    She  was 

*-  Written  in  1850. 

t  "  Stella  drawing  a  Picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  on  his  Prison  Wall." 
Painted  by  Granet,  at  Rome,  in  1810.  The  picture  was  purchased  by  the  Em- 
press, and"^  was  afterwards  transported  to  Munich.  It  now  forms  part  of  the 
Leuchtenberg  Collection,  No.  245,  and  has  been  engraved  by  Muxel.  Stella, 
on  his  arrival  in  Rome,  was  arrested,  but  soon  after  found  innocent  and 
liberated.  So  late  as  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  this  sketch  of  the 
Madonna  was  shown  to  travellers  in  Rome.  —  <&.  S. 


288     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

walking  with  Horace  Twiss's  mother.  I  kept  as  near  her  as  I 
could  with  decorum,  and  without  appearing  to  be  watching 
her ;  yet  there  was  something  about  her  that  disturbed  me. 
So  glorious  a  head  ought  not  to  have  been  covered  with  a 
small  chip  hat.  She  knit  her  brows,  too,  on  looking  at  the 
pictures,  as  if  to  assist  a  failing  sight.  But  I  recognized  her 
fascinating  smile  with  delight,  though  there  was  a  line  or  two 
about  her  mouth  which  I  thought  coarse. 

September  2Sd.  — At  the  Jardindes  Plantes  with  E.  Hamond's 

friend,  K  ,  and  we  spent  great  part  of  the  day  together. 

I  believe  it  was  not  on  this,  but  some  other  day,  when  R  

said,  "  I  will  call  for  you  to-morrow,"  I  answered,  I  will 
thank  you  not  to  call.  T  would  rather  not  see  anything  else 
with  you,  and  I  will  tell  you  frankly  why.  I  am  come  to 
Paris  to  enjoy  myself,  and  that  enjoyment  needs  the  accompa- 
niment of  sympathy  with  others.  Now,  you  dislike  every- 
thing, and  find  fault  with  everything.  You  see  nothing  which 
you  do  not  find  inferior  to  what  you  have  seen  before.  This 
may  be  all  very  true,  but  it  makes  me  very  uncomfortable.  I 
believe,  if  I  were  forced  to  live  with  you,  I  should  kill  myself 
So  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  you  in  London,  but  no  more  in 
Paris." 

Eem.^  —  I  several  times  attended  French  Courts  of  Justice, 
and  heard  both  arguments  before  judges  and  trials  in  criminal 
cases  before  juries.  I  have  no  remark  to  make  on  the  argu- 
ments, for  I  never  understood  them  sufficiently  ;  and,  indeed, 
I  very  imperfectly  understood  the  examination  of  witnesses  ; 
but  I  did  understand  enough  to  enable  me  to  come  to  this  con- 
clusion, that  if  I  were  guilty,  I  should  wish  to  be  tried  in 
England,  —  if  innocent,  in  France.  Making  this  remark  once 
to  Southey,  he  changed  the  expression,  and  said  :  "  The  English 
system  seems  to  have  for  its  object  that  no  innocent  person 
should  be  unjustly  found  guilty,  —  the  French  system,  that 
no  criminal  should  escape."  Now,  if  it  be  the  fact  that  of  the 
accused  by  far  the  greater  number  are  guilty,  it  will  follow 
that  injustice  is  more  frequent  in  the  English  than  in  the 
French  courts. 

It  is  customary  for  the  admirer  of  English  law  to  boast  of 
that  feature  of  it  which  prohibits  all  attempts  to  make  the 
prisoner  convict  himself,  as  if  the  state  represented  in  the 
court  had  not  a  right  to  the  truth,  and  as  if  a  man  who  had 
violated  the  law  were  privileged  through  the  violation.  This 

*  Written  in  1850. 


1814.] 


FRENCH  COURTS  OF  JUSTICE. 


289 


surely  betrays  want  of  discrimination.  It  is  right  that  no 
violence  should  be  used  to  compel  an  answer,  because  that 
may  as  often  produce  falsehood  as  truth,  —  nor  is  any  used  in 
the  French  courts  ;  but  the  prisoner  is  interrogated  as  well  as 
the  prosecutor  and  witnesses,  and  the  same  means  are  used  to 
detect  falsehood  in  all.  If  he  refuse  to  answer,  he  is  made  to 
understand  the  unfavorable  inferences  that  will  be  drawn. 
And  this  interrogation  taking  place  before  the  public,  no  great 
injustice  can  be  done.  On  this  point  I  entirely  approve  of 
the  French  practice. 

In  another  material  respect,  the  practice  of  the  English  and 
the  French  courts  is  different.  In  the  French  courts,  the  facts 
being  already  known  by  preliminary  proceedings,  the  prisoners 
are  heard,  and  then  the  witnesses  are  called.  Their  hearing 
begins  with  "  Contez  a  la  cour  les  faits,"  —  relate  the  facts  to 
the  court,  —  and  then  questions  follow.  This  is  done  in  pres- 
ence of  the  prisoner,  who,  if  he  interrupts,  is  not  silenced  or 
reproved,  as  he  would  be  in  England.  I  once  heard  a  French 
prisoner  exclaim,  "You  lie  !  "  An  English  judge  would  be  in 
danger  of  falling  into  fits  at  such  an  outrage.  The  French 
President  very  quietly  and  even  courteously  said,  "  In  what 
does  the  lie  consist '?  "  And  the  answer  being  given,  he  went 
on,  "  But  you  yourself  said  so  and  so."  And  afterwards  he 
said,  "  But  if  this  is  a  lie,  was  that  a  lie  too  "  (stating  some- 
thing else  the  witness  had  said)  "  which  you  did  not  contra- 
dict In  a  few  minutes  the  prisoner  had  involved  himself  in 
contradictions  which  proved  his  guilt.  Who  can  blame  this  ? 
Publicity  is  unquestionably  necessary  to  secure  this  practice  from 
abuse,  and  there  may  be  parts  of  the  preliminary  proceedings 
which,  if  I  were  acquainted  with  them,  I  might  disapprove  of 
I  write  only  of  what  I  witnessed. 

There  is  always  an  advocate  (Procureur  du  Eoi)  who  repre- 
sents the  Crown,  and  who  gives  his  judgment  as  between  the 
prosecutor  and  the  accused ;  and  he  retires  with  the  judges.* 

Remj\  —  One  other  particular  struck  me  at  once,  and  I  have 
urged  on  English  lawyers  the  propriety  of  its  adoption  in  our 
courts,  —  but  never  with  effect,  I  fear.  The  prisoner  does  not 
stand,  but  has  a  little  box  to  himself,  with  a  desk  and  papers. 
A  soldier,  as  guard,  sits  with  him.  And  this  box  is  so  placed 
that  he  can  communicate  with  his  counsel.    Our  law  says 

*  My  impression  respecting  the  French  courts,  as  compared  with  the  English, 
has  been  confirmed  bv  later  visits  to  them.  —  H.  C.  R. 
t  Written  in  1850. " 
VOL.  I.  13  S 


290     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

4 

the  accused  are  to  be  presumed  to  be  innocent  until  they  are 
proved  guilty ;  and  yet  on  their  trial  they  are  degraded  by 
being  forced  to  stand,  unless  they  consent  to  urge  a  falsehood, 
as  that  they  are  ill.  On  application,  they  are  always  allowed 
to  sit. 

On  September  28th  I  went  to  the  Theatre  Frangais,  to  see 
the  greatest  of  the  French  comedians.  I  abstain  from  writing 
of  the  French  theatre,  as  I  do  of  the  public  buildings,  the 
galleries  of  paintings,  &c.,  but  I  may  make  exceptions.  One 
is  in  favor  of  a  great  theatrical  name,  Fleury,  whom  I  have 
seen  several  times.  He  was  already  aged  and  near  the  end  of 
his  career,  yet  he  appeared  to  me  to  be  perfect  in  a  certain 
class  of  comic  characters.  Genteel  comedy  and  aged  charac- 
ters were  his  department.  One  role  made  a  lasting  impression. 
In  the  "  Ecole  des  Bourgeois,"  he  played  a  Marquis  who  is 
driven  to  project  a  mesalliance  to  recruit  his  finances ;  but  a 
blunder  of  hi§  servant  defeats  his  plan.  He  delivers  to  the 
vulgar  family  a  letter  which  is  written  to  the  Marquis's  friend, 
the  Duke.  It  begins,  "  Enfin,  ce  soir  je  m'encanaille."  The 
opening  of  this  letter^  and  the  repetition  of  the  words  by  every 
one  of  the  party  was  excellent,  especially  the  spelling  of  the 
word  encanaille  by  the  servant.  In  the  midst  of  a  family  of 
enrages,  the  Marquis  makes  his  appearance.  The  gay  impu- 
dence with  which  he  met  their  rage  reminded  me  of  a  similar 
character  by  Iffland.  Though  I  could  not  relish  French  tragedy, 
I  thought  the  comedy  perfection,  —  and  I  still  think  so.  Our 
best  comedians  are  gross  caricaturists  in  comparison.  The 
harmonious  keeping  and  uniformly  respectable  acting  at  the 
Theatre  Frangais,  even  in  the  absence  of  their  stars,  are  what 
give  the  French  stage  its  superiority  oyer  the  English.  Yet 
the  Frangais  had  ceased  to  be  popular.  The  little  Boulevard 
theatres  were  crowded,  while  the  Frangais  was  empty.  Two 
admirable  low  comedians  I  enjoyed  this  year  at  the  Porte  St. 
Martin,  —  Brunet  and  Pothier.  But  I  did  not  this  time  see 
the  two  greatest  French  performers,  Talma  and  Mademoiselle 
Mars. 

September  29th,  —  A  call  on  Madame  de  Stael.  She  expressed 
herself  strongly  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade, 
though  she  was  not  sanguine  of  success.  She  was  in  Geneva 
when  I  arrived  in  Paris,  and  regretted  that  the  Clarksons  left 
before  her  return.  From  her  house,  the  Chateau  de  Clichy,  I 
walked  to  St.  Denis,  and  on  the  way  met  with  an  adventure. 
I  overtook  a  French  soldier  :  he  had  a  sunburnt  face  and  a 


1814.] 


SPANISH  CRUELTY. 


291 


somewhat  ruffianly  appearance.  As  I  came  up  to  him,  he 
startled  me  by  running  up  and  putting  his  hands  on  my 
shoulders  :  he  said  in  a  loud  voice,  but  with  a  smiling  face 
which  at  once  removed  all  fear  of  violence  :  Ah  1  vous  etes 
Anglais :  que  je  vous  aime  !  si  je  n'avais  que  deux  sous,  vous 
€n  auriez  un.  Mais  si  vous  etiez  Espagnol,  je  vous  egorgerois." 
And  then  he  shook  me  as  if  to  show  me  that  he  would  execute 
his  threat.  Before  he  had  explained  himself  I  guessed  the 
fact,  and  having  disengaged  myself  from  his  unwelcome  em- 
brace, I  had  a  regular  conversation  with  him,  and  in  vain  tried 
to  reason  with  him.  He  told  me  that,  when  in  Spain,  he  was 
taken  prisoner  and  heaten  by  the  Spaniards.  They  would  have 
killed  him,  he  said,  but  the  '^hraves^^  English  rescued  him  out 
of  their  hands.  This  was  the  burden  of  his  song.  He  ex- 
hibited his  wounds,  —  they  were  shocking,  —  and  he  seemed 
to  be  capable  of  no  feelings  but  gratitude  and  revenge.    I  said : 

You  call  me  a  good  man ;  if  I  had  by  chance  been  born  in 
Spain,  I  should  have  been  what  I  am  now  ;  I  could  not  help 
it."  —  "  Tant  pis  pour  vous  —  I  would  kill  you."  —  But  why  % 
you  meet  with  good  people  and  bad  people  everywhere." —  "  Non, 
pas  en  Espagne."  —  What,  kill  me,  when  I  have  done  nothing 
to  you."  —  "  Si  ce  n'etait  pas  vous,  c'etait  votre  frere  ;  si  co 
n'etait  pas  votre  frere,  c'etait  votre  cousin  —  c'est  la  memo 
chose.  On  ne  pent  pas  trouver  I'individu  —  c'est  impossible." 
To  strengthen  my  moral  arguments,  I  treated  him  with  a 
bottle  of  wine  at  an  inn  on  the  road. 

October  Jith.  —  A  dinner  at  Madame  de  StaeTs,  where  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  renewing  my  slight  acquaintance  with  Ben- 
jamin Constant  and  William  Schlegel.  Constant  praised 
highly  the  Dichtung  imd  Wahrheit,"  which  our  hostess  does 
not  like,  —  how  should  she  %  The  naivete  of  the  confessions  and 
sacrifice  of  dignity  to  truth  were  opposed  to  all  the  convention- 
alities to  which  she  was  accustomed.  Asking  Schlegel  for  an 
explanation  of  the  title  "  Dichtung  und  Wahrheit,"  he  said  : 

I  suppose  it  is  used  merely  as  an  apology,  if  taxed  with  any- 
thing." This  was  the  poorest  thing  he  said.  Schlegel  asserted 
that  Tieck  was  sincere  in  his  profession  of  Catholicism.  Fichte, 
he  said,  was  aware  before  his  death  that  he  had  survived  his 
fame.  Schlegel  spoke  of  Eogers  as  the  only  poet  of  the  old 
school ;  the  modern  English  poets  having  taken  a  direction 
like  that  of  the  Germans,  though  without  any  connection  be- 
tween them.  In  answer  to  my  inquiries,  he  said  that  a 
national  spirit  was  rising  in  Germany  ;  but  he  talked  with 


292     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

reserve  on  politics.  Of  Arndt,  he  said  that  he  had  not  a  clear 
head,  but  that  he  had  been  of  use  by  exciting  a  sentiment  of 
nationality. 

October  5th.  —  At  the  Louvre  for  the  last  time.  There  I 
met  Miss  Curran,  Dawe,  and  Chantrey.  A  remark  by  the  latter 
struck  me,  and  1  made  a  note  of  it.    "  The  ancients,"  he  said, 

worked  with  a  knowledge  of  the  place  where  the  statue  was 
to  be,  and  anticipated  the  light  to  which  it  would  be  exposed. 
If  it  were  to  be  in  the  open  air,  they  often  introduced  folds  in 
the  drapery,  for  the  sake  of  producing  a  shade."  He  pointed 
out  to  us  the  bad  effect  of  light  from  two  windows  falling  on  a 
column. 

October  8th.  —  After  a  five  weeks'  residence,  without  a  mo- 
ment's ennui,  I  left  Paris  without  a  moment's  regret.  D  

was  my  companion.  He  was  famous  for  his  meanness  and  love 
of  i^ioney,  which  I  turned  to  account.  We  went  the  first  day 
in  the  cabriolet  of  a  diligence  to  Amiens,  where  we  spent  the 
night.  The  next  day  we  proceeded  towards  the  coast.  I  found 
that  there  was  only  one  seat  in  the  cabriolet  on  this  occasion, 
price  32  /n,  40/r.  being  charged  for  the  interior ;  on  which  I 

said  to  D  :  "  Now,  we  must  travel  on  fair  terms.    The  best 

place,  in  fact,  is  the  cheapest,  and  I  don't  think  it  fair  that  one 
man  should  have  both  advantages  ;  therefore  I  propose  that 
whoever  has  the  cabriolet  shall  pay  40  /r."  He  consented  ;  I 
gave  him  his  choice,  and  it  was  amusing  to  see  the  eagerness 
with  which  he  chose  the  interior. 

My  arrangement  turned  out  well,  for  I  had  the  company  of 
a  very  sensible,  well-informed  clergyman,  Dr.  Coplestone,  and 
we  ran  a  round  of  literary  and  political  topics.  We  travelled 
all  night,  and  breakfasted  at  Boulogne.  It  was  in  the  morning 
that  we  all  walked  up  a  hill  to  relieve  our  limbs,  when  I  saw 
the  Doctor  talking  to  a  stranger  ;  and  referring  to  him,  I  said 
afterwards,  "  Your  friend."  —  He  is  no  friend  of  mine,"  said 
Coplestone,  angrily  ;  he  is  a  vulgar,  ignorant  man  ;  I  do  not 
know  what  he  is  ;  I  thought  he  was  an  auctioneer  at  first ; 
then  I  took  him  for  a  tailor  :  he  may  be  anything."  I  heard 
afterwards  from  D  that  this  stranger  had  been  very  an- 
noying in  the  coach,  by  talking  on  every  subject  very  ill. 
When  we  came  to  breakfast  he  addressed  his  conversation  to 
me,  and  having  used  the  word  peccadillo,  he  asked  me  whether 
I  had  ever  been  in  Spain,  to  which  I  made  no  answer.  He 
went  on  :  "  Peccadillo  is  a  Spanish  word  ;  it  means  a  little  sin  ; 
it  is  a  compound  of  two  words,  —  pecca,  little,  and  dillo,  sin." 


1814.] 


SCHLEGEL  ON  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHY. 


293 


I  happened  to  catch  Coplestone's  eye,  and,  encouraging  each 
other,  we  both  laid  down  our  knives  and  forks  and  roared  out- 
right. * 

My  first  Continental  trip,  after  my  call  to  the  bar,  has  af- 
forded me  great  pleasure,  without  at  all  indisposing  me  to  go 
on  with  my  trial  of  the  bar,  as  a  profession.  I  le^t  my  friends 
in  Germany,  but  in  France  I  have  not  formed  a  single  acquaint- 
ance which  is  likely  to  ripen  into  friendship.  A  singular  fact, 
because  I  believe  the  character  of  my  own  mind  has  much 
more  of  the  French  than  of  the  German  in  it. 

October  IJfth,  —  Received  a  call  from  Tiarks,  for  whom  I  had 
purchased  some  books.  Kastner,  I  learned,  is  still  in  London. 
His  endeavors  to  obtain  money  for  the  Prussians  have  been 
successful,  and  he  is  in  good  spirits  about  his  own  affairs.  He 
hopes  to  have  an  appointment  on  the  Rhine  j  and  he  believes 
a  University  will  be  formed  at  Bonn. 

October  2Sd,  —  Walked  from  Cambridge  to  Bury.  During 
the  greater  part  of  the  time  I  was  reading  Schlegel  "  Ueber 
die  Sprache  und  Weisheit  der  Indier."  The  book  on  language 
I  could  not  follow  or  relish,  but  the  second  book  on  Indian 
philosophy  I  found  very  interesting,  and  far  more  intelligible 
than  the  other  philosophical  writings  of  the  author.  He  treats 
of  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Indian  philosophers,  and  rep- 
resents them  as  forming  epochs  in  Indian  history.  The  notions 
concerning  the  Emanation  from  the  divine  mind  are  connected 
with  the  doctrine  of  the  pre-existence  and  transmigration  of 
the  soul.  These  ideas  were  followed  by  the  worship  of  nature 
and  its  power,  out  of  which  sprung  the  tasteful  and  various 
mythology  of  the  Greeks.  The  doctrine  of  two  principles  is 
treated  by  Schlegel  with  more  respect  than  I  expected,  and 
that  which  followed  it,  and  came  out  of  it,  —  Pantheism^  —  with 
far  less.  He  asserts  of  Pantheism  what  I  have  long  felt  to  be 
equally  true  of  Schelling's  A  bsolute,  that  it  is  destructive  of  all 
moral  impressions,  and  productive  merely  of  indifference  to 
good  and  evil.    This  little  book  is  an  admirable  hortative  to 

*  Coplestone  published  a  collection  of  letters,  &c.,  with  a  Memoir  of  Lord 
Dudley,  my  slight  acquaintance  at  Corunna.  On  the  appearance  of  this  wox'k 
an  epigram  was  circulated,  ascribed  to  Croker:  — 

"  Than  the  first  martyr's,  Dudley's  fate 
Still  harder  must  be  owned, 
Stephen  was  onl}^  stoned  to  death, 
Ward  has  been  Coplestoned." 

Samuel  Rogers  has  the  credit  of  having  Avritten 

Ward  has  no  heart,  they  say,  but  I  deny  it, 

He  has  a  heart,  and  gets  his  speeches  by  it."  —  H.  C.  R. 


294     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17. 

the  study  of  Oriental  literature.  Schlegel  regards  the  study 
of  Indian  philosophy  as  a  powerful  stimulus  to  the  mind,  to 
preserve  it  from  the  fatal  consequences  of  modern  scepticism 
and  infidelity.  It  also,  he  thinks,  facilitates  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  Bible. 

October  27tlu  —  In  the  forenoon  I  went  for  a  few  minutes 
into  the  fair.  It  made  me  melancholy.  The  sight  of  Bury 
Fair  affects  me  like  conversation  about  a  deceased  friend. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  about  a  friend  with 
whom  all  acquaintance  has  ceased.  I  have  no  pleasure  what- 
ever now  in  a  scene  which  formerly  gave  me  delight,  and  I  am 
half  grieved,  half  ashamed,  to  find  myself  or  things  so  much 
altered.  This  is  foolish,  for  why  should  the  man  retain  the 
attachments  of  the  boy  %  But  every  loss  of  youthful  taste  or 
pleasure  is  a. partial  death. 

October  Slst.  —  In  the  afternoon  went  to  Flaxman's.  Found 
Miss  Flaxman  alone.  From  her  I  learnt  that,  about  six  weeks 
ago,  Mrs.  Flaxman  was  seized  with  a  paralytic  stroke,  which 
had  deprived  her  of  the  use  of  her  limbs  on  one  side  for  a 
time,  but  from  which  she  had  since  in  a  great  measure  re- 
covered. She  is  now  in  Paris  with  Miss  Denman,  where  she 
is  able  to  walk.  This  seizure,  though  she  may  survive  it 
many  years,  will  sensibly  affect  her  during  her  life.  I  should, 
indeed,  have  thought  such  a  blow  a  sentence  of  death,  with 
execution  respited.  But  Anthony  Eobinson  informs  me  that 
he  had  a  paralytic  stroke  many  years  ago,  from  which  he  has 
suffered  no  evil  consequences  since.  I  observed,  both  to  Miss 
Flaxman  this  day,  and  to  Anthony  Robinson  the  day  after, 
that  I  had  a  presentiment  I  should  myself  at  some  time  be 
attacked  with  paralysis  or  apoplexy.  They  treated  this  idea 
as  a  whim,  but  I  have  still  the  feeling  ;  for  I  frequently  suffer 
from  dizziness,  and  sometimes  feel  a  tightness  over  my  eyes 
and  in  my  brain,  which,  if  increased,  would,  I  fancy,  produce 
a  paralytic  affection.  These  apprehensions  are,  however,  by 
no  means  painful.  I  am  not  acquainted  with  any  mode  of 
death  which  is  less  fearful  in  imagination.* 

November  ISth.  —  Dined  with  Mr.  Porden,  having  invited 
myself  thither.  A  Captain  Stavely  and  Miss  Flaxman  were 
there,  and  afterwards  Mr.  Flaxman  and  a  Mr.  Gunn  came. 
The  evening  was  very  pleasantly  spent.  We  talked  about 
Gothic  architecture.    Mr.  Flaxman  said  he  considered  it  but  a 

*  This  anticipation  proved  wholly  groundless,  though  Mr.  Robinson  com- 
plained of  occasional  dizziness  till  his  death. 


1814.] 


FLAXMAN  ON  AGRICULTURE. 


295 


degeneracy  from  the  Roman.  I  observed  that  it  was  not 
enough  to  say  that  generally,  it  should  be  shown  how  ;  that 
as  the  architects  of  the  Middle  Ages  could  not  but  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  ancient  Roman  works,  of  course  this  knowl- 
edge must  have  influenced  their  taste,  but  they  might  still 
have  views  of  their  own;  and  certainly  the  later  and  purer 
Gothic  did  not  pretend  to  the  same  objects.  Flaxman  did  not 
object  to  this.  He  observed  that  Gothic,  like  other  architec- 
ture, sprang  out  of  the  wants  of  the  age,  and  was  to  be  ex- 
plained from  the  customs  of  the  time.  The  narrow  lancet 
windows  were  used  when  glass  was  little  or  not  at  all  known, 
and  when  a  cloth  was  put  up.  At  this  time  there  were  no 
buttresses,  for  they  were  not  rendered  necessary.  But  when, 
glass  being  introduced,  large  windows  followed,  and  thin  walls 
were  used,  buttresses  became  necessary.  It  was  casually  ob- 
served this  evening,  that  the  Greeks  had  little  acquaintance 
with  the  arch.  Mr.  Gunn  observed  that  the  first  deviation 
from  the  Greek  canon  was  the  placing  the  arch  upon  instead 
of  hetween  the  pillars.*  The  Greek  architecture  was  adapted  - 
to  wooden  buildings  :  all  the  architectural  ornaments  consist 
of  parts  familiar  to  builders  in  wood.  The  arch  was  easier 
than  the  stone  architraves,  &c.,  for  it  might  consist  of  small 
stones.  Speaking  of  the  Lombard  columns,  Mr.  Flaxman  said 
the  old  architects  in  the  Middle  Ages  frequently  cut  up  the 
ancient  pillars.  The  circular  corners  to  the  pillars  in  our 
churches  are  frequently  subsequent  additions  to  the  pillars  to 
give  them  grace.  Mr.  Porden  is  of  opinion  that  Gothic  archi- 
tecture has  its  origin  in  the  East,  and  Mr.  Flaxman  seems  also 
to  favor  this  idea.  Porden  says  the  historic  evidence  is  great, 
and  the  Spanish  churches  furnish  the  chain  of  communication. 
Flaxman  derived  the  Norman  zigzag  from  the  incapacity  of 
the  workmen  to  produce  the  flower  which  was  used  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans.  Speaking  of  ornaments,  he  said  they 
were  all  significant  among  the  Greeks  :  the  pattern  called  the 
Grecian  Key,  for  instance,  was  meant  to  represent  the  Laby- 
rinth at  Crete ;  and  so  of  a  number  of  decorations  which  we 
use  without  discernment,  but  which  had  not  lost  their  sym- 
bolic sense  among  the  ancients.    Mr.  Gunn  f  I  found  almost 

*  In  Grecian  architecture  the  arch,  as  a  principle  of  construction,  is  not  to 
be  found.  It  was  known  in  the  East,  and  has  been  met  with  in  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Egyptian  Pyramid^. 

t  I  afterwards  heard  ^that  Mr.  Gunn,  of  Norfolk,  a  man  of  taste  and  a 
traveller,  was  the  clergyman  who  married  the  Duke  of  Sussex  to  Lady 
Augusta  Murray.  This  Involved  him  in  embarrassments,  and  was  a  bar  to 
liis  future  promotion.  —  H.  C.  R. 


296     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  ir. 


an  intolerant  enemy  to  the  Gothic.  He  spoke  of  "  extravagant 
deviation  from  good  taste,"  &c.,  yet  I  made  him  confess  that 
the  Gothic,  though  further  from  the  Greek  than  the  Saxon, 
was  far  more  beautiful,  because  it  had  acquired  a  consistency 
and  character  of  its  own. 

November  IJfth.  —  Spent  the  forenoon  in  court.  We  were 
all  much  pleased  by  a  manly  and  spirited  reply  of  Brougham 
to  Lord  Ellenborough.  A  man  convicted  of  a  libel  against 
Jesus  Christ  offered  an  affidavit  in  mitigation,  which  Lord 
Ellenborough  at  first  refused  to  receive,  on  the  ground  that  if 
the  defendant  were  the  author  of  the  book,  there  was  nothing 
by  which  he  could  swear.  When  Brougham  rose  to  remark  on 
this,  Ellenborough  said  :  "  Mr.  Brougham,  if  you  are  acquainted 
with  this  person's  faith,  you  had  better  suggest  some  other 
sanction ;  you  had  better  confer  with  him."  Brougham  said 
in  reply  :  "  It  is  very  unpleasant  to  be  thus  mixed  up  with  my 
client,  of  whom  I  know  nothing  but  that  I  am  his  retained 
advocate.  As  a  lawyer  and  a  gentleman,  I  protest  against 
such  insinuations."  This  he  repeated  in  a  tone  very  impressive. 
Lord  Ellenborough  was  evidently  mortified,  and  said  in  a  faint 
voice  that  no  insinuation  was  intended. 

November  17th.  —  After  nine  I  went  to  Charles  Lamb's, 
whose  parties  are  now  only  once  a  month.  I  played  a  couple 
of  rubbers  pleasantly,  and  afterwards  chatted  with  Hazlitt  till 
one  o'clock.  He  is  become  an  Edinburgh  Be  viewer  through 
the  recommendation  of  Lady  Mackintosh,  who  had  sent  to  the 
Champion  office  to  know  the  author  of  the  articles  on  Institu- 
tions. Hazlitt  sent  those  and  other  writings  to  Jeffrey,  and 
has  been  in  a  very  flattering  manner  enrolled  in  the  corps. 
This  has  put  him  in  good  spirits,  and  he  now  again  hopes  that 
his  talents  will  be  appreciated  and  become  a  subsistence  to  him. 

November  21st.  —  In  the  evening  I  stepped  over  to  Lamb, 
and  sat  with  him  from  ten  to  eleven.  He  was  very  chatty  and 
pleasant.  Pictures  and  poetry  were  the  subjects  of  our  talk. 
He  thinks  no  description  in  The  Excursion  "  so  good  as  the 
history  of  the  country  parson  who  had  been  a  courtier.  In 
this  I  agree  with  him.  But  he  dislikes  "  The  Magdalen," 
which  he  says  would  be  as  good  in  prose  ;  in  which  I  do  not 
agree  with  him. 

November  23d.  —  This  week  I  finished  Wordsworth's  poem. 
It  has  afforded  me  less  intense  pleasure  on  the  whole,  perhaps, 
than  I  had  expected,  but  it  will  be  a  source  of  frequent  grati- 
fication.   The  wisdom  and  high  moral  character  of  the  work 


1S14.] 


KEAN'S  MACBETH. 


297 


are  beyond  anything  of  the  same  kind  with  which  I  am  ac- 
quainted, and  the  spirit  of  the  poetry  flags  much  less  frequently 
than  might  be  expected.  There  are  passages  which  run  heav- 
ily, tales  which  are  prolix,  and  reasonings  which  are  sj)un  out, 
but  in  general  the  narratives  are  exquisitely  tender.  That  of 
the  courtier  parson,  who  retains  in  solitude  the  feelings  of  high 
society,  whose  vigor  of  mind  is  unconquerable,  and  who,  even 
after  the  death  of  his  wife,  appears  able  for  a  short  time  to 
bear  up  against  desolation  and  wretchedness,  by  the  powers  of 
his  native  temperament,  is  most  delightful.  Among  the 
discussions,  that  on  Manufactories,  in  the  eighth  book,  is  ad- 
mirably managed,  and  forms,  in  due  subordination  to  the 
incomparable  fourth  book,  one  of  the  chief  excellences  of  the 
poem.  Wordsworth  has  succeeded  better  in  light  and  elegant 
painting  in  this  poem  than  in  any  other.  His  Hanoverian  and 
Jacobite  are  very  sweet  pictures. 

December  1st,  —  Went  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  where  my 
pleasure  was  less  than  I  had  expected.  Kean  is  not  an  excel- 
lent Macbeth.  Nature  has  denied  him  a  heroic  figure  and  a 
powerful  voice.  A  mere  faculty  of  exhibiting  the  stronger  ma- 
lignant passions  is  not  enough  for  such  a  character.  There  is 
no  commanding  dignity  in  Kean,  and  without  this  one  does 
not  see  how  he  could  so  easily  overawe  the  Scottish  nobility. 
His  dagger  scene  pleased  me  less  than  Kemble's.  He  saw  the 
dagger  too  soon,  and  without  any  preparatory  pause.  Kemble 
was  admirable  in  the  effect  he  gave  to  this  very  bold  concep- 
tion. In  his  eye  you  could  see  when  he  lost  sight  of  the  dag- 
ger. But  in  the  scene  in  which  he  returns  from  the  mvirder, 
Kean  looks  admirably.  His  death  is  also  very  grand.  After 
receiving  his  death-wound  he  staggers  and  gives  a  feeble  blow. 
After  falling  he  crawls  on  the  floor  to  reach  again  his  sword, 
and  dies  as  he  touches  it.  This  is  no  less  excellent  than  his 
dying  in  Richard,  but  varied  from  it ;  so  that  what  is  said  of 
Cawdor  in  the  play  may  be  said  of  Kean,  "  Nothing  in  his 
life  became  him  like  the  leaving  it."  In  no  other  respect  did 
he  impress  me  beyond  an  ordinary  actor. 

Decemhe)"  7th,  —  Met  Thomas  Barnes  at  a  party  at  Collier's, 
and  chatted  with  him  till  late.  He  related  that  at  Cam- 
bridge, having  had  lessons  from  a  boxer,  he  gave  himself  airs, 
and  meeting  with  a  fellow  sitting  on  a  stile  in  a  field,  who  did 
not  make  way  for  him  as  he  expected,  and  as  he  thought  due 
to  a  gownsman,  he  asked  what  he  meant,  and  said  he  had  a  great 
mind  to  thrash  him.  The  man  smiled,"  said  Barnes,  "  put 
13* 


298     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENKY  CKABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  17- 

his  hand  on  my  shoulder,  and  said,  Young  fiian,  I 'm  Cribb." 
I  was  delighted  ;  gave  him  my  hand  ;  took  him  to  my  room, 
where  I  had  a  wine-party,  and  he  was  the  lion."  Cribb  was 
at  that  time  the  Champion  of  England. 

Becemher  11th.  — After  reading  at  home  from  eight  to  ten  I 
called  on  Miss  Lamb,  and  chatted  with  her.  She  was  not  un- 
well, but  she  had  undergone  great  fatigue  from  writing  an 
article  about  needle-work,  for  the  new  Ladies'  British  Magazine. 
She  spoke  of  writing  as  a  most  painful  occupation,  which  only 
necessity  could  make  her  attempt.  She  has  been  learning- 
Latin  merely  to  assist  her  in  acquiring  a  correct  style.  Yet, 
while  she  speaks  of  inability  to  write,  what  grace  and  talent 
has  she  not  manifested  in  "  Mrs.  Leicester's  School,"  &c. 

Becemher  18th.  —  Finished  Milner  on  Ecclesiastical  Archi- 
tecture in  England."  He  opposes  Whittington's  opinion  that 
Gothic  architecture  originated  in  the  East,  and  that  it  attained 
perfection  in  France  before  it  did  in  England.  Neither  ques- 
tion interests  me  greatly  ;  what  is  truly  curious  and  worthy  of 
remark  is  the  progress  of  the  mind  in  the  cultivation  of  art. 
All  the  arts  of  life  are  originally  the  produce  of  necessity  ;  and 
it  is  not  till  the  grosser  wants  of  our  nature  are  supplied  that 
we  have  leisure  to  detect  a  beauty  in  what  was  at  first  only  a 
relief  Hoav  each  necessary  part  of  a  building  became  an 
architectural  ornament  is  shown  by  the  theoretical  writers  on 
ancient  architecture.  The  same  has  not  yet  been  done  for 
Gothic  architecture ;  and  in  this  alone  the  study  of  modern  art 
is  less  interesting  than  that  of  the  ancient.  But  still  it 
would  be  highly  interesting  to  inquire  how  the  architecture  of 
the  moderns  sprang  out  of  the  art  of  the  ancients,  and  how 
different  climates,  possibly,  and  certainly  different  countries, 
supplied  various  elements  in  the  delightful  works  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.  As  to  the  books  I  have  read,  and  the  different  the- 
ories in  each,  I  cannot  appreciate  them,  because  they  appeal  to 
facts  with  which  I  am  unacquainted,  and  each  disputes  the  ex- 
istence of  what  the  others  confidently  maintain.  For  instance, 
the  writers  are  still  at  variance  about  what  is  surely  capable 
of  being  ascertained,  viz.  whether  there  be  any  real  specimen 
of  the  Gothic  in  Asia. 

Becemher  19th.  —  Took  tea  with  the  Flaxmans,  and  read  to 
them  and  Miss  Vardel  Coleridge's  ^' Christabel,"  with  which 
they  were  all  delighted,  Flaxman  more  than  I  expected.  I 
also  read  some  passages  out  of  "  The  Excursion."  Flaxman 
took  umbrage  at  some  mystical  expressions  in  the  fragment  in 


1814.] 


MISS  O'NEIL.  —  BRENTANO. 


299 


the  Preface,  in  which  Wordsworth  talks  of  seeing  Jehovah  un- 
alarmecL'^  "  If  my  brother  had  written  that,"  said  Flaxman, 
I  should  saj,  '  Burn  it.'  "  But  he  admitted  that  Wordsworth 
could  not  mean  anything  impious  in  it.  Indeed  I  was  unable, 
and  am  still,  to  explain  the  passage.  And  Lamb's  explanation 
is  unsatisfactory,  viz.  that  there  are  deeper  sufferings  in  the 
mind  of  man  than  in  any  imagined  hell.  If  Wordsworth 
means  that  all  notions  about  the  personality  of  God,  as  well 
as  the  locality  of  hell,  are  but  attempts  to  individualize 
notions  concerning  Mind,  he  will  be  much  more  of  a  meta- 
physical philosopher  nach  deutscher  Art,  than  I  had  any  con- 
ception of.  And  yet  this  otherwise  glorious  and  magnificent 
fragment  tends  thitherwards,  as  far  as  I  can  discern  any  ten- 
dency in  it. 

December  20th  —  Late  in  the  evening  Lamb  called,  to  sit 
with  me  while  he  smoked  his  pipe.  I  had  called  on  him  late 
last  night,  and  he  seemed  absurdly  grateful  for  the  visit.  He 
wanted  society,  being  alone.  I  abstained  from  inquiring  after 
his  sister,  and  trust  he  will  appreciate  the  motive. 

December  2Sd,  —  Saw  Miss  O'Neil  in  Isabella.  She  was,  as 
Amyot  well  said,  a  hugging  actress."  Sensibility  shown  in 
grief  and  fondness  was  her  forte,  —  her  only  talent.  She  is 
praised  for  her  death  scenes,  but  they  are  the  very  opposite  of 
K can's,  of  which  I  have  spoken.  In  Kean,  you  see  the  ruling 
passion  strong  in  death,  —  that  is,  the  passion  of  the  individual. 
Miss  O'Neil  exhibits  the  sufferings  that  are  common  to  all  who 
are  in  pain.    To  imitate  death  closely  is  disgusting. 

December  25th,  —  I  called  on  George  Brentano,  and  was 
greatly  interested  by  his  account  of  his  family,  and  especially 
of  my  former  friend,,  his  brother  Christian.  Daring  the  last 
ten  years  Christian  has  been  managing  the  estates  of  his  family 
in  Bohemia,  where,  says  his  brother,  he  has  been  practising  a 
number  of  whimsical  absurdities.  Among  other  economical 
projects,  he  conceived  the  plan  of  driving  a  number  of  sheep 
into  a  barn  and  forcing  them,  by  flogging, -&c.,  to  tread  the 
grain,  instead  of  using  a  flail.  To  show  that  animals  might  be 
made  to  sustain  the  remedies  which  art  has  discovered  for 
human  miseries,  he  broke  the  legs  of  some  cocks  and  hens,  in 
order  to  make  them  walk  with  wooden  legs. 

*  "  All  strength  —  all  terror,  single  or  in  bands, 
That  ever  was  put  forth  in  personal  form  — 
Jehovah  —  with  his  thunder,  and  the  choir 
Of  shouting  angels,  and  the  empyreal  thrones  — 
I  pass  them  unalarmed." 

(Preface  to  "  The  Excursion.") 


300     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


Of  politics  George  Brentano  spoke  freely.  He  is  not  so 
warmly  anti-Buonapartist  as  I  could  have  wished,  but  he  is 
still  patriotic.  He  wishes  for  a  concentration  of  German 
power. 

December  27th,  —  Bode  to  Witham  on  the  outside  of  the 
Colchester  coach,  and  amused  myself  by  reading  Middleton's 
"  Letter  from  Rome,"  a  very  amusing  as  well  as  interesting 
work.  His  proof  that  a  great  number  of  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Bomish  Church  are  derived  from  the  Pagan 
religion  is  very  complete  and  satisfactory.  And  he  urges  his 
argument  against  the  abuses  of  the  Boman  Church  with  no 
feelings  unfavorable  to  Christianity.  That  the  earliest  Chris- 
tians voluntarily  assimilated  the  new  faith  and  its  rites  to  the 
ancient  superstition,  in  order  to  win  souls,  and  with  that  ac- 
commodating spirit  which  St.  Paul  seems  to  have  sanctioned, 
cannot  be  doubted.  It  admits  of  a  doubt  how  far  such  a  prac- 
tice is  so  entirely  bad  as  rigid  believers  now  assert.  Certainly 
these  peculiarities  are  not  the  most  mischievous  excrescences 
which  have  gradually  formed  themselves  on  the  surface  of  the 
noble  and  sublimely  simple  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  worst  of  these 
adscititions  appendages  may  be  looked  upon  as  bad  poetry ; 
but  the  ineradicable  and  intolerable  vice  of  Romanism  is  the 
infallibility  of  the  Church,  and  the  consequent  intolerance  of 
its  priests.    It  is  a  religion  of  slavery. 


CHAPTER  XYIIL 
1815. 

JANUARY  3d.  —  My  visit  to  Witham  was  made  partly  that 
I  might  have  the  pleasure  of  reading  ^'  The  Excursion  "  to 
Mrs.  W.  Pattisson.  The  second  perusal  of  this  poem  has  grati- 
fied me  still  more  than  the  first,  and  my  own  impressions  were 
not  removed  by  the  various  criticisms  I  became  acquainted 
with.  I  also  read  to  Mrs.  Pattisson  the  Eclectic  Review.  It  is 
a  highly  encomiastic  article,  rendering  ample  justice  to  the 
poetical  talents  of  the  author,  but  raising  a  doubt  as  to  the 
religious  character  of  the  poem.  It  is  insinuated  that  Nature 
is  a  sort  of  God  throughout,  and  consistently  with  the  Calvin- 
istic  orthodoxy  of  the  reviewer,  the  lamentable  error  of  repre- 


1815.]  OPINIONS  ABOUT  "THE  EXCURSION."  301 

senting  a  love  of  Nature  as  a  sort  of  purifying  state  of  mind, 
and  the  study  of  Nature  as  a  sanctifying  process,  is  emphati- 
cally pointed  out. 

Mrs.  Pattisson  further  objected  that,  in  Wordsworth,  there 
is  a  want  of  sensibility,  or  rather  passion ;  and  she  even  main- 
tained that  one  of  the  reasons  why  I  admire  him  so  much  is 
that  I  never  was  in  love.  We  disputed  on  this  head,  and  it 
was  at  last  agreed  between  us  that  Wordsworth  has  no  power 
because  he  has  no  inclination  to  describe  the  passion  of  an  un- 
successful lover,  but  that  he  is  eminently  happy  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  connubial  felicity.  We  read  also  the  Edinburgh  review 
of  the  poem.  It  is  a  very  severe  and  contemptuous  article. 
Wordsworth  is  treated  as  incurable,  and  the  changes  are  rung 
on  the  old  keys  with  great  vivacity,  —  affectation,  bad  taste, 
mysticism,  &c.  He  is  reproached  with  having  written  more 
feebly  than  before.  A  ludicrous  statement  of  the  story  is 
given,  which  will  not  impose  on  many,  for  Homer  or  the  Bible 
might  be  so  represented.  But  though  the  attack  on  Words- 
worth will  do  little  mischief  among  those  who  are  already  ac- 
quainted with  Edinburgh  Review  articles,  it  will  close  up  the 
eyes  of  many  who  might  otherwise  have  recovered  their  sight. 

Perhaps,  after  all,  The  Excursion"  will  leave  Mr.  Words- 
worth's admirers  and  contemners  where  they  were.  Each  will 
be  furnished  with  instances  to  strengthen  his  own  persuasions. 
Certainly  I  could  wish  for  a  somewhat  clearer  development  of 
the  author's  opinions,  for  the  retrenchment  of  some  of  the  un- 
interesting interlocutory  matter,  for  the  exclusion  of  the  tale 
of  the  angry,  avaricious,  and  unkind  woman,  and  curtailments 
in  some  of  the  other  narratives.  ^But,  with  these  deductions 
from  the  worth  of  the  poem,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  place  it 
among  the  noblest  works  of  the  human  intellect,  and  to  me  it 
is  one  of  the  most  delightful.  What  is  good  is  of  the  best 
kind  of  goodness,  and  the  passages  are  not  few  which  place  the 
author  on  a  level  with  Milton.  It  is  true  Wordsworth  is  not 
an  epic  poet ;  but  it  is  also  true  that  what  lives  in  the  hearts 
of  readers  from  the  works  of  Milton  is  not  the  epic  poem. 
Milton's  story  has  merit  unquestionably  ;  but  it  is  rather  a 
lyric  than  an  epic  narrative.  Wordsworth  is  purely  and  ex- 
clusively a  lyric  poet,  in  the  extended  use  of  that  term. 

January  8th.  —  Called  on  Mrs.  Clarkson  (at  Bury),  and 
talked  with  her  about  "  The  Excursion."  She  had  received  a 
letter  from  Wordsworth  himself,  in  which  he  mentioned  the 
favorable  as  well  as  unfavorable  opinions  he  had  already 
heard. 


302     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 

tTanuary  21st  —  On  my  ride  to  London  outside  the  Bury 
coach  I  read  part  of  Goethe's  Autobiography  (3d  vol.)  with 
great  pleasure.  It  is  a  delightful  work,  but  must  be  studied, 
not  read  as  a  mere  personal  history.    His  account  of  the 

Systeme  de  la  Nature  "  and  of  his  theological  opinions  is  pe- 
culiarly interesting.  All  that  respects  his  own  life  and  feelings 
is  delightfully  told.  It  is  a  book  to  make  a  man  wish  to  live, 
if  life  were  a  thing  he  had  not  already  experienced.  There  is 
in  Goethe  such  a  zest  in  living.  The  pleasures  of  sense  and 
thought,  of  imagination  and  the  affections,  appear  to  have  been 
all  possessed  by  him  in  a  more  exuberant  degree  than  in  any  man 
who  has  ever  renewed  his  life  by  writing  it.  He  appears  in 
his  youth  to  have  had  something  even  of  religious  enthusiasm. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  he  lost  it,  but  we  shall 
hardly  be  gratified  by  a  much  longer  continuance  of  this  in- 
comparable memoir. 

January  2Sd. — Called  on  Amyot.  He  informs  me  that  Lord 
Erskine  is  writing  a  life  of  C.  J.  Fox.  This  work  will  deter- 
mine what  is  at  present  doubtful,  —  w^hether  Erskine  has  any 
literary  talent.  1  shall  be  gratified  if  the  book  does  the  author 
and  subject  credit ;  for  it  is  lamentable  to  witness  the  prema- 
ture waste  of  a  mind  so  active  as  that  of  the  greatest  jury-orator. 
And  it  has  been  supposed  that  since  his  retreat  from  the  Chan- 
cellorship he  has  devoted  himself  merely  to  amusement."  * 

January  26th,  —  Dined  at  Mr.  Gurney's.f  He  appeared  to 
advantage  surrounded  by  his  family.  The  conversation  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  legal  anecdote.  Of  Graham  it  was  related, 
that  in  one  case  which  respected  some  parish  rights,  and  in 
which  the  parish  of  A.  B.  was  frequently  adverted  to,  he  said 
in  his  charge  :  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  one  circumstance  very  re- 
markable in  this  case,  that  both  the  plaintiff's  and  defendant's 
counsel  have  talked  a  great  deal  about  one  A.  B.,  and  that 
neither  of  them  has  thought  proper  to  call  him  as  a  witness  ! !  " 
It  was  Graham  who,  one  day,  at  the  Old  Bailey,  having  omit- 
ted to  pass  sentence  of  death  on  a  prisoner,  and  being  told 
that  he  had  forgotten  it,  exclaimed,  very  gravely,  Dear  me, 
I  beg  his  pardon,  I  am  sure  !  "  The  late  Justice  Willes  was 
spoken  of  as  having  had  a  habit  of  interrupting  the  counsel ; 

and  on  such  an  occasion,  said  to  him  :    Your  Lordship  is 

even  a  greater  man  than  your  father.    The  Chief  Baron  used 

*  In  1825  Fox's  collected  speeches  were  published,  with  a  short  biograph- 
ical and  critical  introduction  by  Erskine,  six  vols, 
t  Afterwards  one  of  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer. 


1815.]  MENTAL  DELUSIONS  OF  SHARP,  ETC.  303 

to  understand  me  after  I  had  done,  but  your  Lordship  under- 
stands me  before  I  begin." 

January  SOth,  —  Dined  at  the  Hall.  After  dinner  went  to 
Flaxman's.  He  was  very  chatty  and  pleasant,  and  related  some 
curious  anecdotes  of  Sharp  the  engraver,  who  seems  the  ready 
dupe  of  any  and  every  religious  fanatic.  I  have  already  re- 
ferred to  his  notion,  that  he  was  about  to  accompany  the  Jews 
under  the  guidance  of  Brothers  to  the  Promised  Land.*  Sharp 
became  a  warm  partisan  of  Joanna  Southcott,  and  endeavored 
to  make  a  convert  of  Blake  ;  but,  as  Flaxman  judiciously  ob- 
served, such  men  as  Blake  are  not  fond  of  playing  second 
fiddle.  Blake  lately  told  Flaxman  that  he  had  had  a  violent 
dispute  with  the  angels  on  some  subject,  and  had  driven  them 
away.  Barry  had  delusions  of  another  kind.  He  informed 
Flaxman  that  he  could  not  go  out  of  his  house  on  account  of 
the  danger  he  incurred  of  assassination.  And  in  the  lecture- 
room  of  the  Academy  he  spoke  of  his  house  being  broken  into 
and  robbed,  and  fixing  his  eyes  on  Smirke  and  other  head 
Academicians,  said,  "  These  were  not  common  robbers." 

February  Sd.  —  Dined  with  Walter ;  Combe  and  Fraser 
were  there.  Combe  related  an  anecdote  of  Sergeant  Davy. 
The  sergeant  was  no  lawyer,  but  an  excellent  Nisi  Prius  advo- 
cate, having  great  shrewdness  and  promptitude.  On  one 
occasion  Lord  Mansfield  said  he  should  sit  on  Good  Friday, 
there  being  a  great  press  of  business.  It  was  said  no  barrister 
would  attend,  and  in  fact  no  one  did ;  but  the  Chief  Justice 
tried  the  causes  with  the  attorneys  alone.  When  the  proposal 
w^as  made  to  the.  bar,  Sergeant  Davy  said  to  Lord  Mansfield, 
^'  There  has  been  no  precedent  since  the  time  of  Pontius 
Pilate." 

I  heard  the  other  day  of  Jekyll  the  following  pun.  He  said  : 
Erskine  used  to  hesitate  very  much,  and  could  not  speak 
well  after  dinner.  I  dined  with  him  once  at  the  Fishmongers' 
Company.  Ha  made  such  sad  work  of  speechifying,  that  I 
asked  him  whether  it  was  in  honor  of  the  Company  that  he 
floundered  so." 

February  12th.  —  Called  on  Thelwall,  whom  I  had  not  seen 
for  a  long  time.  Mrs.  Thelwall  looked  ill ;  he,  bating  a  little 
hard  riding  on  his  hobby,  was  not  unpleasant.  He  is  nearly 
at  the  close  of  his  epic  poem,  which  he  talked  about  in  1799, 
when  I  visited  him  in  Wales.  At  least  there  is  no  precipita- 
tion here.    He  talked  of  "  The  Excursion  "  as  containing  finer 


*  See  ante^  p.  85. 


304:     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 

verses  than  there  are  in  Milton,  and  as  being  in  versification 
most  admirable  ;  but  then  Wordsworth  borrows  without  ac- 
knowledgment from  Thclwall  himself !  ! 

March  4-th.  — Dined  at  Collier's.  After  dinner  took  a  hasty 
cup  of  tea  with  Anthony  Robinson,  Jr.,  and  Miss  Lamb,  and 
went  with  them  to  Coven t  Garden  Theatre  to  see  Miss  O'Neil. 
We  sat  in  the  first  row,  and  thus  had  a  near  view  of  her. 
She  did  not  appear  to  me  a  great  actress,  but  still  I  was  much 
pleased  with  her.  She  is  very  graceful  without  being  very 
jjretty.  There  is  an  interesting  tenderness  and  gentleness,  the 
impression  of  which  is,  however,  disturbed  by  a  voice  which  I 
still  find  harsh.  In  her  unimpassioned  acting  she  pleases  from 
her  appearance  merely,  but  in  moments  of  great  excitement 
she  wants  power.  Her  sobs  in  the  last  act  of  "  The  Stranger" 
were  very  pathetic,  but  her  general  acting  in  the  first  scenes 
was  not  that  of  a  person  habitually  melancholy.  Young  is  a 
mere  copy  of  Kemble  throughout  in  "  The  Stranger,"  but  cer- 
tainly a  very  respectable  copy. 

After  accompanying  Miss  Lamb  to  the  Temple  I  returned  to 
see  "  The  Sleep- Walker."  Mathews's  imitations  of  the  actors  in 
his  sleep  were  exceedingly  droll ;  and  his  burlesque  acting  as 
laughable  as  anything  I  ever  saw  or  heard  in  my  life,  but  of 
course  mere  farce  and  buffoonery. 

February  5th.  —  Dined  with  the  Colliers.  After  dinner, 
Mrs.  Collier  having  lent  me  ^'  Waverley,"  I  returned  to  my 
chambers,  and  having  shut  myself  within  a  double  door, 
I  took  my  tea  alone  and  read  a  great  part  of  the  first  volume. 

The  writer  has  united  to  the  ordinary  qualities  of  works  of 
prose  fiction  excellences  of  an  unusual  kind.  The  portraits  of 
Baron  Bradwardine,  a  pedantic  Highland  laird,  and  of  Fergus, 
a  chivalrous  rebel,  in  whom  generosity  and  selfishness,  self- 
devotion  and  ambition,  are  so  dexterously  blended  and  entan- 
gled that  we  feel,  as  in  real  life,  unable  to  disentangle  the 
skein,  are  very  finely  executed.  The  robber,  Donald  Bean,  the 
assassin,  Callum  Beg,  the  Lieutenant,  and  all  the  subordinate 
appendages  to  a  Highland  sovereignty,  are  given  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  carry  with  them  internal  evidence  of  their  gen- 
uineness. And  the  book  has  passages  of  great  descriptive  ex- 
cellence. The  author's  sense  of  the  romantic  and  picturesque 
in  nature  is  not  so  delicate,  or  his  execution  so  powerful,  as 
Mrs.  Radclifie's,  but  his  paintings  of  men  and  manners  are 
more  valuable.  The  incidents  are  not  so  dexterously  con- 
trived, and  the  author  has  not  produced  a  very  interesting 


1815.] 


BUONAPARTE  FROM  ELBA. 


305 


personage  in  his  hero,  Waverley,  who,  as  his  name  was  proba- 
bly intended  to  indicate,  is  ever  hesitating  between  two  kings 
and  two  mistresses.  I  know  not  that  he-  meant  to  symbohze 
the  two  princes  and  the  two  ladies.  Flora,  whom  Waverley  at 
last  leaves,  certainly  b^ars  with  her  more  of  our  reverence  and 
admiration  than  Rose ;  but  we  are  persuaded  that  the  latter 
will  make  her  husband  happier  than  he  could  be  with  so  sub- 
lime a  personage  as  her  romantic  rival.  There  is  more  than 
the  usual  portion  of  good  sense  in  this  book,  which  may  enjoy, 
though  not  immortality,  at  least  a  long  life. 

March  14-th,  —  (At  Eoyston.)  The  news  of  the  day  was 
alarming.  Before  I  left  town  the  intelligence  reached  us 
that  Buonaparte  had  entered  France,  but  it  was  not  till  to- 
day that  I  feared  seriously  .that  he  might  at  last  succeed  in 
displacing  the  present  government.  Now  (I  write  on  the  15th) 
it  appears  that  he  is  at  Lyons,  and  one  cannot  but  fear  that  he 
has  the  army  with  him.  If  so,  the  case  is  dreadful  indeed. 
I  fear  the  French  are  so  imitative  a  people,  that  if  any  one 
marshal  or  considerable  corps  espouse  his  cause,  all  the  others 
will  follow. 

On  the  first  blow,  perhaps,  everything  depends ;  for  what 
the  French  have  hitherto  most  anxiously  avoided  is  civil  war. 
There  have  not  yet  been  in  France  two  parties  sufficiently  strong 
to  secure  to  their  partisans  the  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war. 
The  insurgents  of  La  Vendee  have  always  been  considered  as 
rebels,  and  so  will  be,  I  think  it  probable,  the  adherents  of 
Louis  or  Buonaparte.  If  the  parties  were  at  all  balanced,  the 
interference  of  the  Foreign  Powers  would  at  once  decide  the 
contest.  But,  if  that  interference  take  place  too  soon,  will  it 
not  determine  the  neutral  party  to  embrace  the  cause  of  the 
ex-Emperor  ^  And  yet  if  there  be  no  interference,  will  not  the 
army  be  decidedly  on  the  side  of  the  military  chieftain  ? 

April  8th,  —  Went  to  Bury  by  the  coach.  Finding  Hart 
was  alone  inside,  I  joined  him,  and  never  had  a  more  pleasant 

ride.    Hart  was  very  chatty  and  very  agreeable.    Of  Mr.  

Hart  seems  when  young  to  have  thought  very  rightly.  Mr. 

 passed  then  for  a  great  man  among  good  people.  Hart 

said  :  ^'  When  I  was  a  little  boy  he  shocked  me  by  saying  to  a 
man  who  was  lamenting  his  backslidings  to  him,  ^  Ah  !  sir,  you 
must  not  take  these  things  too  much  to  heart  ;  you  must 
recollect  you  were  predestined  to  do  them  T  "  A  use  of  the 
doctrine  of  Necessity  which  shocked  a  sensible  child  of  ten 
years  old.  * 

T 


306     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


Api'il  15 til,  —  I  called  at  the  Colliers',  and  finding  that  Miss 
Lamb  was  gone  to  Alsager's,  from  whom  I  had  an  invitation,  I 
also  went.  There  was  a  rather  large  party,  and  I  staj^ed  till 
near  two  o'clock,  playing  w^hist  ill,  for  which  I  was  scolded  by 
Captain  Burney,  and  debating  with  IJazlitt,  in  which  I  was 
also  unsuccessful,  as  far  as  the  talent  of  the  disputation  was 
involved,  though  Hazlitt  was  wrong,  as  well  as  offensive,  in 
almost  all  he  said.  When  pressed,  he  does  not  deny  what  is 
bad  in  the  character  of  Buonaparte.  And  yet  he  triumphs 
and  rejoices  in  the  late  events.  Hazlitt  and  myself  once  felt 
alike  on  politics.  And  now  our  hopes  and  fears  are  directly 
opposed.  He  retains  all  his  hatred  of  kings  and  bad  govern- 
ments, and  believing  them  to  be  incorrigible,  he,  from  a  princi- 
ple of  revenge,  rejoices  that  they  are  punished.  I  am  indignant 
to  find  the  man  who  might  have  been  their  punisher  become 
their  imitator,  and  even  surpassing  them  all  in  guilt.  Hazlitt 
is  angry  with  the  friends  of  liberty  for  weakening  their  strength 
by  joining  with  the  common  foe  against  Buonaparte,  by  which 
the  old  governments  are  so  much  assisted,  even  in  their  attempts 
against  the  general  liberty.  I  am  not  shaken  by  this  conse- 
quence, because  I  think,  after  all,  that,  should  the  governments 
succeed  in  the  worst  projects  imputed  to  them,  still  the  evil 
will  be  infinitely  less  than  that  which  would  arise  from  Buona- 
parte's success.  I  say  :  "  Destroy  him,  at  any  rate,  and  take 
the  consequences."  Hazlitt  says  :  Let  the  enemy  of  the  old 
tyrannical  governments  triumph,  and  I  am  glad,  and  do  not 
much  care  how  the  new  government  turns  out."  Not  that  I 
am  indifferent  to  the  government  which  the  successful  kings  of 
Europe  may  establish,  or  that  Hazlitt  has  lost  all  love  for 
liberty,  but  that  his  haired  and  my  fears  predominate  and 
absorb  all  weaker  impressions.  This  I  beheve  to  be  the  great 
difference  between  us. 

April  16th,  —  In  the  evening,  in  my  chambers,  enjoyed 
looking  over  Wordsworth's  new  edition  of  his  poems.  The  sup- 
plement to  his  preface  I  wish  he  had  left  unwritten.  His  re- 
proaches of  the  bad  taste  of  the  times  will  be  ascribed  to 
merely  personal  feelings,  and  to  disappointment.  But  his 
manly  avow^al  of  his  sense  of  his  own  poetic  merit  I  by  no 
means  censure.  His  preface  contains  subtle  remarks  on 
poetry,  but  they  are  not  clear ;  and  I  wish  he  could  incorpo- 
rate all  his  critical  ideas  into  a  work  of  taste,  in  either  the 
dialogue  or  novel  form  ;  otherwise  his  valuable  suggestions  are 
in  danger  of  being  lost.    Hi^  classification  of  his  poems  dis- 


1815.] 


BUONAP ARTISTS  AND  ANTI-BUONAP ARTISTS.  307 


pleases  me  from  an  obvious  fault,  that  it  is  partly  subjective 
and  partly  objective. 

April  17th, — Spent  the  forenoon  in  the  Hall,  without  in- 
terest. The  court  rose  early,  and  I  walked  homewards  with 
Biirrell.  He  is  a  zealous  anti-Buonapartist,  and  on  high  prin- 
ciples. It  is  a  pleasure  to  talk  with  so  noble-minded  a  man. 
He  observed  that  Buonaparte,  if  sincere,  could  not  possibly 
remain  a  friend  to  peace.  Like  Satan,  when  peace  was  restored, 
ease  would  lead  him  to  recant  "  vows  made  in  pain,  as  violent 
and  void."  It  is  contrary  to  human  nature  that  such  a  mind 
could  ever  rest  in  tranquillity. 

A2wil  18th.  —  Called  on  Anthony  Robinson.  He  was  vehe- 
mently abusive  of  the  allies,  and  angrily  strenuous  for  peace. 
I  had  a  difficulty  in  keeping  my  temper,  but  when  he  was 
spent  he  listened  to  me.  It  seems  in  fact  that,  after  all,  if  the 
question  were  peace  or  war  with  Buonaparte,  we  must  conclude 
in  favor  of  peace  ;  but  the  question  is,  war  by  us  now  in 
France,  or  by  him  two  years  hence  in  Germany,  —  and 
then  surely  the  answer  must  be  for  war  with  him  now.  At 
the  same  time  the  prospect  is  tremendous,  if  we  are  to  have 
war ;  for  how  are  our  resources  to  endure,  which  seem  now 
nearly  exhausted  ] 

April  22d,  —  Mr.  Quayle  breakfasted  with  me  in  the  expec- 
tation of  meeting  Tiarks,  who  called  for  a  moment,  but  could 
not  stay.  Mr.  Quayle  proposed  to  me  the  writing  for  a  new 
Review,  but  I  gave  an  indecisive  answer.  He  informs  me  that 
Yalpy  has  engaged  Tiarks  for  the  Lexicon  in  consequence  of 
my  letter  to  him.  Accompanied  Mr.  Quayle  to  Greek  Street, 
and  on  my  return  found  a  letter  from  my  sister  announcing 
that  my  father  had  been  attacked  by  apoplexy,  and  was  lying 
in  a  state  which  rendered  it  unlikely  that  he  would  survive 
many  hours.  '  This  intelligence  could  not  surprise  me,  nor,  in 
the  state  of  my  father's  health,  could  it  grieve  me.  His  fiic- 
ulties  were  rapidly  wasting  away,  his  body  enfeebled  by  disease 
and  age,  —  he  was  nearly  eighty-eight.  He  retained  his  ap- 
petite alone  of  all  his  sources  of  pleasure.  I  rejoiced  to 
hear  that  his  state  was  that  of  torpidity,  almost  of  insensi- 
bility. 

April  2Sd,  —  I  spent  the  forenoon  at  home.  Mr.  Green 
brought  me  a  letter  announcing  the  expected  event ;  my 
poor  father  died  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  yesterday 
morning. 

He  has  lived  among  men  a  blameless  life ;  and,  perhaps, 


308     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 

that  he  has  never  excited  in  his  children  the  best  and  most  de- 
lightful emotions  has  been  his  misfortune  rather  than  his  fault. 
0,  how  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  assign  the  boundaries 
between  natural  and  moral  evil,  between  the  defects  of  char- 
acter which  proceed  from  natural  imbecility,  which  no  man 
considers  a  reproach,  and  those  errors  of  the  will,  about  which 
metaphysicians  may  dispute  forever  !  Only  this  I  know,  that 
1  sincerely  wish  I  was  other  than  I  am  ;  and  that  I  acknowl- 
edge among  those  I  see  around  me  individuals  whom  I  believe 
to  be  of  a  nobler  and  better  nature  than  myself.  The  want 
of  sensibility  in  myself  I  consider  as  a  radical  defect  in  my 
nature  ;  but  on  what  does  sensibility  depend  1  On  constitu- 
tion, or  habits,  or  what  ^  I  cannot  tell.  I  know  only  that  I 
was  not  my  own  maker.  I  know  also  that  I  respect  others 
more  than  I  do  myself ;  though  I  have  hitherto  been  preserved 
from  doing  any  act  grossly  violating  the  rights  of  others,  and 
I  am  ^et  incapable  of  a  deliberate  act  of  injustice  or  hard- 
heartedness.  But  how  long  may  I  be  able  to  say  this  ]  How 
wase  and  admirable  the  prayer,  Lead  me  not  into  tempta- 
tion !  "  I  cannot  understand  the  mysteries  of  religion,  but 
this  I  am  sensible  of,  that  there  is  a  consciousness  of  good  and 
evil  in  myself,  of  strength  and  weakness,  of  a  goodness  out  of 
me  which  is  not  in  me,  and  of  a  something  which  /  can  neither 
attain  nor  think  unattainable.  And  on  this  consciousness, 
common  to  all  men,  rests  the  doctrine  of  grace  and  prayer, 
which  I  w^ish  to  comprehend  and  duly  to  feel.  I  wish  to  be 
religious,  as  an  excellence  and  grace  of  character,  at  the  least. 

April  2J^tli.  —  Spent  the  greater  part  of  the  forenoon  at 
home.  Eead  Hazlitt's  article  on  the  great  novelists  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review.  A  very  intelligent  article.  His  discriminaC- 
tion  between  Fielding  and  Le  Sage  is  particularly  excellent.  His 
characters  of  Cervantes,  Richardson,  and  Smollett  are  also  admi- 
rable ;  but  his  strictures  on  Sterne  are  less  pointed ;  and  his 
obtrusive  abuse  of  the  politics  of  the  king,  as  occasioning  the 
decline  of  novel- writing  during  the  present  reign,  is  very  far- 
fetched indeed.  He  is  also  severe  and  almost  contemptuous 
towards  Miss  Burney,  whose  Wanderer  "  was  the  pretence  of 
the  article. 

May  7th.  —  On  returning  from  a  walk  to  Shooter's  Hill,  I 
found  a  card  from  Wordsworth,  and,  running  to  Lamb's,  1  found 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wordsworth  there.  After  sitting  half  an  hour 
with  them,  I  accompanied  them  to  their  lodgings,  near  Caven- 
dish Square.     Mrs.  Wordsworth  appears  to  be  a  mild  and 


1815.]        WORDSWORTH,  THE  POET  OF  COMMON  THINGS.  309 

amiable  woman,  not  so  lively  or  animated  as  Miss  Wordsworth, 
but,  like  her,  devoted  to  the  poet. 

May  8th.  —  I  dined  with  the  Colliers,  and  after  dinner  called 
on  the  Flaxmans.  Mrs.  Flaxman  admitted  me  to  her  room. 
She  had  about  a  fortnight  before  broken  her  leg,  and  sprained 
it  besides,  by  falling  down  stairs.  This  misfortune,  however, 
instead  of  occasioning  a  repetition  of  the  paralytic  stroke,  which 
she  had  a  year  ago,  seemed  to  have  improved  her  health.  She 
had  actually  recovered  the  use  of  her  hand  in  some  degree,  and 
her  friends  expect  that  she  will  be  benefited  by  the  accident. 
Poor  Flaxman,  however,  had  a  relapse  of  his  erysipelas,  and  he 
is  still  so  weak  and  nervous  that  he  sees  no  one.  His  situa- 
tion is  the  worse  of  the  two. 

May  9th,  —  Took  tea  with  the  Lambs.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wordsworth  were  there.  We  had  a  long  chat,  of  which,  how- 
ever, I  can  relate  but  little.  Wordsworth,  in  answer  to  the 
common  reproach  that  his  sensibility  is  excited  by  objects 
which  produce  no  effect  on  others,  admits  the  fact,  and  is 
proud  of  it.  He  says  that  he  cannot  be  accused  of  being  insen- 
sible to  the  real  concerns  of  life.  He  does  not  waste  his  feelings 
on  unworthy  objects,  for  he  is  alive  to  the  actual  interests  of 
society.  I  think  the  justification  is  complete.  If  Wordsworth 
expected  immediate  popularity,  he  would  betray  an  ignorance 
of  public  taste  impossible  in  a  man  of  observation. 

He  spoke  of  the  changes  in  his  new  poems.  He  has  substi- 
tuted ebullient  for  fiery,  speaking  of  the  nightingale,  and  joc- 
wid  for  laughing,  applied  to  the  daffodils  ;  but  he  will  probably 
restore  the  original  epithets.  We  agreed  in  preferring  the 
original  reading.    But  on  my  alluding  to  the  lines, 

"  Three  feet  long  and  two  feet  wide," 

and  confessing  that  I  dared  not  read  them  aloud  in  company, 
he  said,  ^'  They  ought  to  be  liked." 

Wordsworth  particularly  recommended  to  me,  among  his 
Poems  of  Imagination,  Yew-Trees,"  and  a  description  of 
Night.  These  he  says  are  among  the  best  for  the  imaginative 
power  displayed  in  them.  I  have  since  read  them.  They  are 
fine,  but  I  believe  I  do  not  understand  in  what  their  excellence 
consists.  The  poet  himself,  as  Hazlitt  has  Avell  observed,  has 
a  pride  in  deriving  no  aid  from  his  subject.  It  is  the  mere 
power  which  he  is  conscious  of  exerting  in  which  he  delights, 
not  the  production  of  a  work  in  which  men  rejoice  on  account 
of  the  sympathies  and  sensibilities  it  excites  in  them.  Hence 


310     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


he  does  not  much  esteem  his  "  Laodamia,"  as  it  belongs  to  the 
inferior  class  of  poems  founded  on  the  affections.  In  this,  as 
in  other  peculiarities  of  Wordsworth,  there  is  a  German  bent 
in  his  mind. 

May  20th, — Went  to  Covent  Garden  to  see  ^'Venice  Pre- 
served." Miss  O'Neil's  Belvidera  was  our  only  attraction,  and 
it  proved  our  gratification.  In  spite  of  her  untragical  face,  she 
strongly  affected  us  by  mere  sweetness  and  grace.  Her  scenes 
of  tenderness  are  very  pleasing,  and,  contrary  to  my  expecta- 
tion, she  produced  a  great  effect  in  the  last  scenes  of  strong 
passion.  She  threw  her  whole  feeling  into  her  acting,  and  by 
this  ahandon^  as  it  were,  she  wrought  wonders,  —  that  is,  for 
her,  —  considering  that  nature  has  denied  her  powers  for  the 
higher  characters. 

May  2Sd.  —  Between  five  and  six  I  was  at  Islington  during 
a  long  shower.  I  waited  till  I  despaired  of  better  weather, 
and  then  returned  to  town.  Just  as  I  reached  the  Temple, 
wetted  to  the  skin,  the  rain  subsided,  and  the  evening  became 
very  fine.  However,  I  could  hardly  repent  of  my  impatience, 
for  I  went  to  Lamb's,  and  took  tea  with  Wordsworth  there. 
Alsager,*  Barron  Field,  Talfourd,  the  Colliers,  &c.  stepped  in 
late.  Wordsworth  was  very  chatty  on  poetry.  I  had  some 
business  to  attend  to,  which  rendered  me  restless,  so  I  left 
at  eleven.  Miss  Hutchinson  was  of  the  party  ;  she  improves 
greatly  on  acquaintance.  She  is  a  lively,  sensible  little 
woman. 

May  25th.  —  After  dining  with  the  Colliers,  I  accompanied 
Miss  Lamb  to  the  theatre,  where  we  were  joined  by  the 
Wordsworths.  We  had  front  places  at  Drury  Lane  and 
saw  "  Eichard  11."  It  is  a  heavy  and  uninteresting  play  ; 
principally  because  the  process  by  which  Eichard  is  deposed 
is  hardly  perceived.  Kean's  acting  in  the  first  three  acts  has 
in  it  nothing  worth  notice  ;  but  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  acts  he 
certainly  Exhibits  the  weak,  passionate,  and  eloquent  monarch 
to  great  advantage.  In  the  scene  in  which  he  gives  up  the 
crown,  the  conflict  of  passjon  is  finely  kept  up  ;  and  the  blend- 
ing of  opposite  emotions  is  so  curious  as  to  resemble  incipient 
insanity.    Several  admirable  artifices  of  the  actor  gave  great 

*  Alsager  had,  at  one  time,  a  manufactory  and  a  bleaching-ground  near  the 
King's  Bench  Prison;  but  ne  gave  this  up,  and,  being  a  great  lover  of  music, 
recommended  himself  to  the  Times  as  an  amateur  reporter  on  musical  matters. 
He  became  City  Correspondent,  and  wrote  the  "  State  of  the  Money  Market" 
for  many  years.  He  was  also  a  shareholder  in  the  paper  till  he  had  a  serious 
misunderstanding  with  Walter. 


1815.] 


DINNER  AT  PORDEN'S. 


311 


satisfaction,  —  one  in  particular,  in  which  he  derides  Boling- 
broke  for  affecting  to  kneel,  and  intimates  by  a  sign  with  his 
hand  that  Bolingbroke  aims  at  the  level  of  his  crown. 

May  28t]u  —  I  dined  at  Collier's  with  a  party  assembled  to 
see  Wordsworth.  There  were  Young,  Barnes,  Alsager,  (fee. 
The  afternoon  passed  off  pleasantly,  but  the  conversation  was 
not  highly  interesting.  Wordsworth  was  led  to  give  an  opin- 
ion of  Lord  Byron  which  flattered  me  by  its  resemblance  to 
my  own.  He  reproached  the  author  with  the  contradiction 
in  the  character  of  the  Corsair,  &c.  He  also  blamed  Crabbe 
for  his  unpoetical  mode  of  considering  human  nature  and 
society. 

I  left  the  party  to  inquire  concerning  the  Anthony  Eobin- 
sons,  and  on  my  return  found  the  Words  worths  gone  ;  but  I 
went  to  Lamb's,  where  they  came,  and  I  enjoyed  their  com- 
pany till  very  late.  I  began  to  feel  quite  cordial  with  Mrs. 
Wordsworth.    She  is  an  amiable  woman. 

June  Jfth,  —  Mr.  Nash,  Sen.,  and  my  brother  Thomas, 
breakfasted  with  me.  I  conducted  Mr.  Nash  to  Mr.  Belsham's 
meeting,  and  came  home  to  read  ''The  White  Doe  of  Bylstone," 
by  Wordsworth.  This  legendary  tale  w411  be  less  popular  than 
Walter  Scott's,  from  the  want  of  that  vulgar  intelligibility,  and 
that  freshness  and  vivacity  of  description,  which  please  even 
those  who  are  not  of  the  vulgar.  Still,  the  poem  will  be  bet- 
ter liked  than  better  pieces  of  Wordsworth's  writing.  There 
are  a  delicate  sensibility  and  exquisite  moral  running  through 
the  whole  ;  but  it  is  not  the  happiest  of  his  narrative  poems. 

June  5th,  —  Dined  at  Mr.  Porden's.  Sir  James  Smith  of 
Norwich,  the  botanical  professor,  there,  also  Phillips*  the 
painter,  and  Taylor,  the  editor  or  proprietor  of  the  Sun.^  I 
spent  a  pleasant  afternoon.  Sir  James  is  a  very  well-bred 
man,  and  though  his  conversation  was  not  piquant,  amenity 
supplied  an  equal  charm ;  though  that  word  is  not  applicable 
to  the  correct  propriety  and  rather  dry  courtesy  of  the  Uni- 
tarian professor.    Phillips  was  very  agreeable,  but  the  hero  of 

*  Thomas  Phillips,  R.  A.,  painted  all  the  leading  characters  of  the  day.  He 
was  a  peculiarly  refined  artist,  but  scarcely  ever  exceeded  tl:^  sphere  of  por- 
trait painting.  Coleridge,  Southey,  Byron,  Crabbe,  Chantrey,  Blake,  Sir 
Joseph  Banks,  Lord  Brougham,  Faraday,  and  Walter  Scott  sat  to  him.  His 
lectures  on  Painting  and  contributions  to  Rees's  Cyclopoedia  show  extensive 
learning  and  originality  of  thought.  He  was  born  at  Dudley,  in  Warwick- 
shire, 1770,  and  died  in  George  Street,  Hanover  Square,  1845. 

t  John  Taylor,  son  of  a  celebrated  oculist  in  Hatton  Garden,  born  1752. 
Was  oculist  to  George  HI.  and  WilHam  IV.  He  published  The  Records  of 
my  Life,"  various  Poems,  and  "  Monsieur  Tonson."    Died  1832. 


312     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


the  day  was  Taylor,  —  "  everybody's  Taylor,"  as  he  is  some- 
times designated.  He  has  lively  parts,  puns,  jokes,  and  is 
very  good-natured.  The  Flaxmans  were  not  there.  Mrs. 
Flaxman  is  gone  to  Blackheath.  Miss  Porden,  in  a  feeling 
manner,  spoke  of  her  apprehension  that  the  Flaxman  family  is 
broken  up  as  a  happy  and  social  circle.  Mrs.  Flaxman's  health 
is  very  precarious,  and  her  husband  is  dependent  on  her,  and 
suffers  himself  through  her  complaint.  This,  I  fear,  is  a  fact ; 
and  it  is  a  melancholy  subject.  These  breakings-up  of  society 
are  mournftd  at  all  times,  and  peculiarly  so  when  they  befall 
the  very  best  of  persons. 

June  6th.  —  I  dined  with  Amyot.  A  small  party  were  there, 
consisting  of  Sharon  Turner,  the  historian  and  antiquarian ; 
Charles  Marsh,*  ex-barrister  and  M.  P.  ;  William  Taylor  of 
Norwich ;  and  Penn,  a  clerk  in  one  of  the  public  offices,  a  de- 
scendant of  William  Penn.  Charles  Marsh  stayed  with  us  but 
a  short  time  ;  he  was  sent  for  to  the  House  of  Commons.  His 
manners  are  easy  and  gentlemanly  ;  he  said  little,  but  he  spoke 
with  great  vivacity.  Sharon  Turner  is  a  good  converser,  but 
with  a  little  pedantry.  He  spoke  of  Martin  Burney  hand- 
somely, but  oddly.  He  said  :  I  always  thought  he  would 
flower,  though  it  might  be  late.  He  is  a  man  of  great  honor 
and  integrity.    He  never  told  me  a  lie  in  his  life  !  " 

William  Taylor  was  amusing,  as  usual.  He  gravely  assured 
me  that  he  believes  the  allies  will  succeed  in  penetrating  into 
France  ;  that  the  French  will  then  offer  the  crown  to  the  Em- 
peror Alexander,  who  will  accept  it ;  and  then  the  allies  will 
light  against  Alexander,  to  prevent  the  union  of  the  two 
crowns.  William  Taylor  enjoys  nothing  so  much  as  an  ex- 
travagant speculation,  —  the  odder  the  better.  He  spoke  of 
Wordsworth,  —  praised  his  conversation,  which  he  likes  better 
than  his  poetry,  —  says  he  is  solid,  dignified,  eloquent,  and 
simple.  "  But  he  looked  surprised,"  said  Taylor,  "  when  I 
told  him  that  I  considered  Southey  the  greatest  poet  and  the 
greatest  historian  living."  —  "  No  great  matter  of  surprise,"  I 
answered,  ''that  Wordsworth  should  think  himself  a  greater 
poet  than  Southey." 

June  15th.  —  I  allowed  myself  a  holiday  to-day.  Mord 
Andrews  breakfasted  with  me.  Afterwards  I  called  on  Words- 
worth at  his  lodgings.  He  was  luckily  at  home,  and  I  spent 
the  forenoon  with  him,  walking.  .  We  talked  about  Hazlitt,  in 
consequence  of  a  malignant  attack  on  Wordsworth  by  him  in 

*  See  ante^  p.  15. 


1815.]  BASIL  MONTAGU  WALKING  THE  CIRCUIT.  313 


Sunday's  Examiner,^  Wordsworth  that  very  day  called  on 
Hunt,  who  in  a  manly  way  asked  him  whether  he  had  seen 
the  paper  of  the  morning ;  saying,  if  he  had,  he  should  con- 
sider his  call  as  a  higher  honor.  He  disclaimed  the  article. 
The  attack  by  Hazlitt  was  a  note,  in  which,  after  honoring 
Milton  for  being  a  consistent  patriot,  he  sneered  at  Words- 
worth as  the  author  of  paltry  sonnets  upon  the  Royal  forti- 
tude," &c.,  and  insinuated  that  he  had  left  out  the  "  Female 
Vagrant,"  a  poem  describing  the  miseries  of  war  sustained  by 
the  poor. 

June  17th,  —  I  went  late  to  Lamb's.  His  party  were  there, 
and  a  numerous  and  odd  set  they  were,  —  for  the  greater  part 
interesting  and  amusing  people,  —  George  Dyer,  Captain  and 
Martin  Burney,  Ayrton,  Phillips,  Hazlitt  and  wife,  Alsager, 
Barron  Field,  Coulson,  John  Collier,  Talfourd,  White,  Lloyd, 
and  Basil  Montagu.  The  latter  I  had  never  before  been  in 
company  with  ;  his  feeling  face  and  gentle  tones  are  very 
interesting.  Wordsworth  says  of  him  that  he  is  a  "  philan- 
thropized courtier."  He  gave  me  an  account  of  his  first  going 
the  Norfolk  Circuit.  He  walked  the  circuit  generally,  and 
kept  aloof  from  the  bar ;  in  this  way  he  contrived  to  pay  his 
expenses.  He  began  at  Huntingdon,  where  he  had  a  half- 
guinea  motion  ;  and  as  he  was  then  staying  at  his  brother's 
house,  he  walked  to  Bury  with  that  money  in  his  pocket, 
picked  up  a  fee  there,  and  so  went  on.  Mackintosh  was  the 
immediate  senior  of  Montagu,  and  assisted  in  bringing  him 
forward.  Mackintosh  had  business  immediately  as  a  leader, 
and  after  a  short  time  the  two  travelled  together.  But  during 
some  time  Montagu  lived  on  bread  and  cheese.  He  is  a  strenu- 
ous advocate  for  all  reforms  in  the  law,  and  believes  that  in 
time  they  will  all  take  place. 

June  18th,  —  Breakfasted  at  Wordsworth's.  Wordsworth 
was  not  at  home,  but  I  stayed  chatting  with  the  ladies  till  he 
returned ;  and  several  persons  dropping  in,  I  was  kept  there 
till  two  o'clock,  and  was  much  amused. 

*  The  attack  referred  to  is  contained  in  the  following  remarks  on  Milton,  in 
the  Examiner,  for  11th  June,  1815:  "  Whether  he  was  a  true  patriot  we  shall 
not  inquire;  he  was  at  least  a  consistent  one.  He  did  not  retract  his  defence  of 
the  people  of  England;  he  did  not  say  that  his  sonnets  to  Vane  or  Cromwell 
were  meant  ironically;  he  was  not  appointed  Poet  Laureate  to  a  Court  he  had 
reviled  and  insulted;  he  accepted  neither  place  nor  pension;  nor  did  he  write 
paltry  sonnets  upon  the  '  Royal  fortitude'  of  the  House  of  Stuart,' by  which, 
however,  they  really  lost  something."  To  these  words  a  foot-note  is  appended, 
referring  to  a  sonnet  to  the  King,  "  in  the  Last  Edition  of  the  Works  of  a 
Modern  Poet." 

VOL.  I.  U. 


314     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


Scott,  editor  of  the  Champion,'^  and  Hay  don  the  painter,  f 
stayed  a  considerable  time.  Scott  is  a  httle  swarthy  man. 
He  talked  fluently  on  French  politics,  and  informed  me  that 
he  has  learnt  from  good  authority  that  La  Fayette  was  ap- 
plied to  by  the  King  on  Buonaparte's  reappearance  in  France  ; 
that  La  Fayette  said  he  wished  the  King  success,  and  would 
serve  under  him  on  conditions  which  he  gave  in  writing  ;  tiiat 
the  King  refused  to  accede  to  them,  and  La  Fayette  retired  to 
his  estate.  On  Buonaparte's  arrival  he,  too,  sent  for  La 
Fayette,  who  refused  to  serve  under  him  or  accept  a  place 
among  the  peers,  but  said  that,  if  elected,  he  would  become  a 
member  of  the  legislative  body. 

Haydon  has  an  animated  countenance,  but  did  not  say 
much.  Both  he  and  Scott  seemed  to  entertain  a  high  reverence 
for  the  poet. 

June  22d,  —  I  spent  the  evening  by  appointment  with  God- 
w^in.  The  Taylors  were  there.  We  talked  politics,  and  not 
very  comfortably.  Godwin  and  I  all  but  quarrelled ;  both 
were  a  little  angry,  and  equally  offensive  to  each  other.  God- 
wan  was  quite  impassioned  in  asserting  his  hope  that  Buona- 
parte may  be  successful  in  the  war.  He  declares  his  wish  that 
all  the  allies  that  enter  France  now  may  perish,  and  affirmed 
that  no  man  who  did  not  abandon  all  moral  principles  and 
love  of  liberty  could  wish  otherwise.  I  admitted  that,  in 
general,  foreigners  have  no  right  to  interfere  in  the  govern- 
ment of  a  country,  but,  in  this  case,  I  consider  the  foreign 
armies  as  coming  to  the  relief  of  the  people  against  the  oppres- 
sions of  domestic  soldiers  ;  and  in  this  lies  the  justice  of  the 
w^ar.  Eichard  Taylor  %  maintained  that  nothing  could  justify 
the  invasion  of  a  country.  I  treated  it  as  mere  formalism  and 
pedantry  to        where  is  the  battle  fought.    In  the  spirit  of 

*  John  Scott,  editor  of  the  Champion^  and  afterwards  of  the  London 
Magazine^  an  intimate  friend  of  Haydon  the  artist.  He  was  killed  in  a  duel 
with  Mr.  Christie,  in  1821,  which  arose  from  a  misunderstanding  with  Mr. 
Lockhart.  —  See  the  "Annual  Register"  for  1823. 

t  This  powerful,  but  seldom  judicious,  artist  obtained  considerable  dis- 
tinction as  a  young  man,  by  his  independence  of  spirit  and  by  determined  op- 
position to  the  weak  and  blind  imitation  of  academic  traditions  of  painting.  He 
viewed  the  Elgin  Marbles  with  rapture,  and  contributed  much  to  secure  a  prop- 
er estimation  of  the  works  of  Phidias,  and  the  great  Athenian  sculptors  in  this 
country.  His  own  performances  were  not  equally  successful.  His  *'  Raising 
of  Lazarus,"  the  best  example  of  his  merits  and  defects,  has  been  recently  pur- 
chased for  the  National  Gallery.  He  was  born  at  Plymouth,  1786,  and  died  by 
his  own  hand  in  Burwood  Place,  London,  1846.  His  lectures  are  learned  and 
iDractical.  His  eloquence  is  vehement.  His  autobiography,  edited  by  Tom 
Taylor,  was  published  in  throe  volumes,  1853. 

X  The  printer.  . 


1815.] 


INTERVENTION  OF  THE  ALLIES  IN  FRANCE. 


315 


the  idea  the  invaders  may  be,  as  is  now  the  fact,  carrying  on  a 
purely  defensive  war.  And  the  moral  certainty  that  Buona- 
parte would  have  made  war  as  soon  as  it  became  convenient, 
justifies  the  allies  in  beginning.  Godwin  considered  the  act- 
ing on  such  a  surmise  unjustifiable.  I  asserted  that  all  the 
actions  of  life  proceed  on  surmises.  We,  however,  agreed  in 
apprehending  that  Buonaparte  may  destroy  the  rising  liberties 
of  the  French,  and  that  the  allies  may  attempt  to  force  the  old 
Bourbon  despotism  on  the  French.  But  Godwin  thinks  the 
latter,  and  I  the  former,  to  be  the  greater  calamity.  I  also 
consider  the  future  despotism  of  Buonaparte  a  certain  conse- 
quence of  his  success  in  the  campaign  ;  and,  besides,  I  believe 
that  even  if  the  French  be  so  far  beaten  as  to  be  obliged  to 
take  back  Louis  on  terms,  yet  they  will  still  remain  so  formida- 
ble that  the  allies  will  not  dare  to  impose  humiliating  condi- 
tions ;  so  that  the  French  may  at  last  be  led  to  offer  the 
Crown  again  on  terms  of  their  own  imposing.  Bichard  Tajdor 
would  be  satisfied  with  this,  but  Godwin  would  on  no  account 
have  the  allies  successful. 

I  am  no  longer  very  anxious  for  the  liberties  of  the  French. 
It  is  infinitely  more  important  for  Europe  that  their  national 
spirit  of  foreign  conquest  should  be  crushed,  than  that  their 
civil  liberties  should  be  preserved.  Like  the  Eomans,  they  m.ay 
be  the  conquerors  of  all  other  nations,  even  while  they  are  main- 
taining their  own  liberties.  And  I  no  longer  imagine,  as  I 
once  did,  that  it  is  only  monarchs  and  governments  which  can 
be  unjust  and  love  war. 

June  2Sd.  —  I  went  to  the  Surrey  Institution  to  read  the  de- 
tailed account  of  the  glorious  victory  at  Waterloo.  This  is 
indeed  most  glorious ;  but  still  T  fear  it  will  not  so  affect  the 
French  people  as  to  occasion  a  material  defalcation  from 
Buonaparte.  And  if  he  be,  after  all,  supported  by  the  French, 
numerous  and  bloody  must  be  the  victories  which  are  to  over- 
throw him. 

After  nine  o'clock  I  walked  to  Ayrton's.  The  illuminations 
were  but  dull,  and  there  were  scarcely  any  marks  of  public  zeal 
or  sympathy.  I  stayed  at  Ayrton's  till  half  past  one.  Lamb, 
Alsager,  &c.  were  there,  but  it  was  merely  a  card-party. 

June  SOth.  —  Called  on  Thelwall.  He  was  in  unafiected  low 
spirits.  Godwin,  Lofft,  and  Thelwall  are  the  only  three  per- 
sons I  know  (except  Hazlitt)  who  grieve  at  the  late  events. 
Their  intentions  and  motives  are  respectable,  and  their  sorrow 
proceeds  from  mistaken  theory,  and  an  inveterate  hatred  of 


316     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 

old  names.  They  anticipate  a  revival  of  ancient  despotism  in 
France  ;  and  they  will  not  acknowledge  the  radical  vices  of  the 
French  people,  by  which  the  peace  of  Europe  is  more  endan- 
gered than  the  liberties  of  the  French  are  by  the  restoration  of 
the  Bourbons. 

July  2d.  —  I  spent  the  forenoon  at  home,  except  that  Long  * 
and  I  loimged  with  Wordsworth's  poems  in  the  Temple  Gardens. 
Long  had  taken  the  sacrament  at  Belsham's,  for  which  I  felt 
additional  respect  towards  him.  Though  I  am  not  religious 
myself,  I  have  great  respect  for  a  conduct  which  proceeds  from 
a  sense  of  duty,  and  is  under  the  influence  of  religious  feelings. 
I  greatly  esteem  Long  in  all  respects,  both  for  his  understand- 
ing and  his  moral  feelings,  which  together  comprise  nearly  all 
that  is  valuable  in  man. 

July  Jftlu  —  At  half  past  four  I  went  to  Thel wall's,  to  witness 
a  singular  display.  Thelwall  exhibited  several  of  his  young 
people,  and  also  himself,  in  the  presence  of  the  Abbe  Sicard, 
and  several  of  his  deaf  and  dumb  pupils.  Thelwall  delivered 
a  lecture  to  about  sixty  or  seventy  persons.  He  gave  an  ac- 
count of  his  plan  of  curing  impediments  in  the  speech.  He 
makes  his  pupils  read  verse  —  beating  time.  And  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  effect  is  produced  by  the  facility  of  repeating  a 
movement  once  begun,  and  partly  by  the  effect  of  imagination. 
The  attention  is  fixed  and  directed  by  the  movement  and 
time-beating.  This  simple  fact,  or  phenomenon,  Thelwall  has 
not  distinctly  perceived  or  comprehended.  His  boys  read,  or 
rather  recited,  verse  very  pleasantly,  and  without  stammering, 
so  as  to  produce  an  effect  far  more  favorable  to  his  system  than 
his  own  explanation  of  it.  After  this  two  hours'  display  we 
dined,  and  in  the  evening  Sicard's  pupils  afforded  amusement 
in  the  drawing-room  by  the  correspondence  they  carried  on 
with  the  ladies.  One  of  them  wrote  notes  to  Mrs.  Rough,  and 
gave  a  gallant  turn  to  all  he  wrote,  for  even  the  deaf  and  dumb 
retain  their  national  character.  I  wrote  some  ridiculous  ques- 
tion in  Mrs.  Rough's  name.  She  wrote  to  him  that  I  was  an 
advocate,  and  therefore  not  to  be  believed.  He  answered,  "  I 
am  glad  to  hear  it,  as  he  can  defend  me  if  I  have  the  misfor- 
tune to  offend  you."' 

July  7th.  —  I  called  on  Amyot  early,  and  found  on  going  out 
that  Paris  had  been  again  taken  by  the  allies.  But  the  pub- 
lic did  not  rejoice,  for  Paris  had  capitulated  on  honorable 
terms,  and  Buonaparte  had  escaped.    During  the  day  Mr. 

*  George  Long,  the  barrister,  and  afterwards  police  magistrate. 


1815.] 


DR.  BATHURST,  BISHOP  OF  NORWICH. 


317 


Whitbread's  death  was  more  a  subject  of  interest  than  the 
possession  of  Paris.  The  death  of  so  watchful  a  member  of 
Parhament  is  reaUy  a  national  loss.  He  belonged  to  the  no- 
blest class  of  mankind. 

In  the  evening  joined  Amyot  and  his  family,  in  the  front 
dress-boxes  of  Covent  Garden.  Miss  O'Neil's  Jane  Shore,  I 
think,  delighted  me  more  than  any  character  I  have  seen  her 
play.  Her  expression  of  disgust  and  horror  when  she  meets  with 
her  husband,  as  well  as  her  general  acting  in  that  scene,  are 
as  fine  as  can  be  conceived,  coming  from  so  uninteresting  a 
face.  What  a  treasure  were  Mrs.  Siddons  now  as  young  as 
Miss  O'Neil ! 

July  29th,  —  (At  Norwich,  on  circuit.)  This  day  was  de- 
voted to  amusement,  and  accordingly  passed  away  heavily.  I 
called  after  breakfast  on  Millard,  and  then  went  to  Amyot,  with 
whom  I  spent  the  remainder  of  the  day.  He  introduced  me  to 
Dr.  Bathurst,  Bishop  of  Norwich.  The  bishop's  manners  are 
very  pleasing.  His  attentions  to  me  would  have  been  flatter- 
ing, could  I  have  thought  them  distinguishing,  but  probably 
they  proceed  from  a  habit  of  courtesy.  I  had  scarcely  ex- 
changed ten  words  with  him  when,  speaking  of  ancient  times 
in  reference  to  the  former  splendor  of  the  buildings  attached 
to  the  Palace,  he  said  :  "  Ah  !  Mr.  Bobinson,  bishops  had  then 
more  power  than  you  or  I  wish  them  to  have,"  as  if  he  knew  I 
was  born  a  Nonconformist.  I  afterwards  met  him  in  the  gar- 
dens, where  a  balloon  was  to  ascend  ;  he  was  arm-in-arm  with 
a  Roman  Catholic,  and  on  my  going  up  to  him  he  took  hold  of 
me  also,  and  remained  with  us  a  considerable  time  walking 
about.  On  my  uttering  some  jest  about  bishops  in  partihus, 
he  eulogized  the  Boman  Catholic  bishops  in  Ireland  as  emi- 
nently apostolic.  The  bishop's  manners  are  gentle,  and  his 
air  is  very  benignant.  He  is  more  gentlemanly  than  Gregoire, 
and  more  sincere  than  Hohenfels. 

Tour  in  Belgium  and  Holland. 

Rem,*  —  The  Battle  of  Waterloo  having  taken  place  in 
Jane,  I  was  determined  to  make  a  tour  in  Belgium,  to  which 
I  was  also  urged  by  my  friend  Thomas  Naylor,t  who  was  my 

*  Written  in  1850. 

t  Father  of  Samuel  Naylor,  the  translator  of  "  Reineke  Fuchs,"  and  son  of 
Samuel  Naylof,  of  Great  Newport  Street,  agent  to  Mr.  Francis,  in  whose  office 
Mr.  Robinson  was  an  articled  clerk.  H.  C.  R.  says:  "  S.  Naylor,  Sen,  took 
me  to  the  first  play  I  ever  saw  in  London;  it  was  '  Peeping  Tom  of  Coventry.' 
I  have  forgotten  all  about  it,  excepting  that  I  was  troubled  by  the  number  of 
people  on  the  stage,  and  that  I  saw  and  admired  Jack  Banister." 


318     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


travelling  companion  from  Sunday,  August  6th,  to  Saturday, 
September  2d. 

I  kept  a  journal  of  this  tour,  and  have  just  finished  a  hasty 
perusal  of  it.  It  contains  merely  an  account  of  what  occurred 
to  myself,  and  the  incidents  were  so  unimpressive  that  the  nar- 
rative has  brought  to  my  recollection  very  few  persons  and 
very  few  places.  I  shall,  therefore,  not  be  tempted  to  dwell 
upon  the  events. 

Naylor  and  I  went  to  Margate  on  the  6th,  and  next  day, 
after  visiting  Ramsgate,  embarked  in  a  small  and  unpromising 
vessel,  which  brought  us  to  Ostend  early  on  the  following 
morning.  There  w^ere  on  board  four  young  men,  who,  like 
ourselves,  were  bound  for  Waterloo.  We  agreed  to  travel  to- 
gether, and  I,  being  the  only  one  who  understood  any  language 
but  English,  was  elected  governor ;  most  of  us  remained  to- 
gether till  the  end  of  the  journey.  I  have  lost  sight  of  them 
all,  but  I  will  give  their  names.  There  was  a  young  Scotch 
M.  D.,  named  Stewart,  whom  I  afterwards  met  in  London, 
when  he  told  me  the  history  of  his  good  fortune.  It  was  when 
travelling  in  France,  after  our  rencontre^  that  he  by  accident 
came  to  a  country  inn,  where  he  found  a  family  in  great 
alarm.  An  English  lady  was  taken  in  premature  labor.  The 
case  was  perilous.  No  medical  man  was  there.  He  offered  his 
services,  and  continued  to  attend  her  until  her  husband,  a 
General,  and  personal  friend  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  Lord 
Wellington,  arrived.  The  General  acknowledged  him  to  be 
the  savior  of  his  wife's  life,  and  in  return  obtained  for  him  a 
profitable  place  on  the  medical  staff  of  the  English  army. 

The  other  young  men  were  Barnes,  a  surgeon,  and  two  mer- 
chants or  merchants'  clerks,  Watkins  and  Williams. 

Our  journey  lay  through  Bruges,  Ghent,  Brussels,  Antwerp, 
Breda,  Utrecht,  Amsterdam,  Haarlem,  Leyden,  the  Hague, 
Delft,  Rotterdam,  and  the  Briel,  to  Helvoetsluys,  and  from 
thence  to  Harwich. 

No  small  part  of  the  tour  was  in  barges.  One  in  particular 
I  enjoyed.  It  was  the  voyage  from  Bruges  to  Ghent,  during 
which  I  certainly  had  more  pleasure  than  I  had  ever  before  had 
on  board  a  vessel,  and  with  no  alloy  whatever.  This  canal  voyage 
is  considered  one  of  the  best  in  the  Netherlands,  and  our  boat, 
though  not  superbly  furnished,  possessed  every  convenience. 
We  took  our  passage  in  the  state-cabin,  over  which  was  an  ele- 
gant awning.  I  found  I  could  write  on  board  with  perfect 
ease ;  but  from  time  to  time  I  looked  out  of  the  cabin  window 


FIELD  OF  WATERLOO. 


319 


on  a  prospect  pleasingly  diversified  by  neat  and  comfortable 
houses  on  the  banks.  The  barge  proceeded  so  slowly  that  we 
could  hardly  perceive  when  it  stopped.  A  man  was  walking 
on  the  side  of  the  canal  for  a  great  part  of  the  way,  and  I 
therefore  suppose  our  pace  was  not  much  more  than  four 
miles  an  hour. 

We  embarked  at  half  past  ten,  and  at  two  o'clock  an  excel- 
lent dinner  was  served  up,  consisting  of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl, 
with  rich  pastry,  and  plenty  of  fruit.  For  this  dinner,  and  the 
voyage  of  between  thirty  and  forty  miles,  we  paid  each  5  fr. 

The  main  object  of  the  tour  w^as  to  visit  the  field  of  the  re- 
cent great  Battle  of  Waterloo.  It  was  on  the  14th  of  August 
when  we  inspected  the  several  points  famous  in  the  history  of 
this  battle.  Not  all  the  vestiges  of  the  conflict  were  removed. 
There  were  arms  of  trees  hanging  down,  shattered  by  cannon- 
balls,  and  not  yet  cut  ofl*.  And  there  were  ruined  and  burnt 
cottages  in  many  places,  and  marks  of  bullets  and  balls  on 
both  houses  and  trees ;  but  I  saw  nothing  in  particular  to  im- 
press me,  except  that  in  an  inn  near  the  field  I  had  a  glimpse 
of  a  lady  in  weeds,  who  was  come  on  a  vain  search  after  the  body 
of  her  husband,  slain  there.  A  more  uninteresting  country, 
or  one  more  fit  for  "a  glorious  victory,"  being  flat  and  almost 
without  trees,  than  that  round  Waterloo  cannot  be  imagined. 
I  saw  it  some  years  afterwards,  when  ugly  monuments  were 
erected  there,  and  I  can  bear  witness  to  the  fact  of  the  great 
resemblance  which  the  aspect  of  the  neighborhood  of  Waterloo 
bears  to  a  village  .a  mile  from  Cambridge,  on  the  Bury  road. 

On  the  field  and  at  other  places  the  peasants  brought  us 
relics  of  the  fight.  Dr.  Stewart  purchased  a  brass  cuirass  for 
a  napoleon,  and  pistols,  &c.  were  sold  to  others.  For  my  owai 
part,  with  no  great  portion  of  sentimental  feeling,  I  could  have 
wished  myself  to  pick  up  some  memorial ;  but  a  mere  purchase 
was  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  me. 

We  dined  at  Waterloo.  Our  host  was  honest,  for  on  my 
ordering  a  dinner  at  2 /r.  a  head,  he  said  he  never  made  two 
prices,  and  should  charge  only  \\fr.  In  the  village,  which  is 
naked  and  wretched,  a  festival  was  being  held  in  honor  of  the 
patron  saint ;  but  we  were  told  that,  in  consequence  of  the 
battle,  and  out  of  respect  to  brave  men  who  lay  there,  there 
was  to  be  no  dancing  this  year. 

In  the  circular  brick  church  of  Waterloo  we  saw  two  plain 
marble  monuments,  bearing  simply  the  names  of  the  officers 
of  the  1st  Foot  Guards  and  15th  King's  Hussars  who  had  fallen 


320     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 


there.  Even  the  reward  of  being  so  named  is  given  but  to 
one  in  a  thousand.  Sixty  thousand  men  are  said  to  have  been 
killed  or  wounded  at  Waterloo.  Will  sixty  be  named  here- 
after 1 

In  general  I  admired  the  towns  of  Belgium,  but  Ghent  was 
my  favorite.  The  fine  architecture  of  the  Catholic  churches 
of  the  Netherlands  gratified  me,  while  I  was  disgusted  with  the 
nakedness  and  meanness  of  the  Protestant  churches  of  Hol- 
land. 

Among  the  few  objects  which  have  left  any  traces  in  my 
memory,  the  one  which  impressed  me  most  was  the  secluded 
village  of  Broek,  near  Amsterdam.  My  journal  for  the  21st  of 
August  contains  the  account  of  our  visit  to  this  village  and 
that  of  Saardam.  The  people  of  Broek  live  in  a  state  of  proud 
seclusion  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and,  being  industrious,  are 
able  to  banish  the  appearance  of  poverty,  at  least  from  their 
cottages.  We  walked  for  about  an  hour  through  the  narrow- 
streets,  which  are  moated  on  a  small  scale.  There  were  a 
great  number  of  inferior  houses,  but  not  a  single  poor  one,  — 
all  were  adorned  more  or  less.  Most  of  them  are  painted  white 
and  green,  —  some  entirely  green.  In  general  the  blinds  were 
closed,  so  that  w^e  could  scarcely  get  a  peep  into  any  of  them. 
When  we  did  look  in  we  observed  great  neatness  and  simpli- 
city, with  marks  of  affluence  at  the' same  time.  The  shops  had 
a  few  goods  in  the  windows  as  a  sort  of  symbol,  but  were  as 
secluded  as  the  private  houses. 

Scarcely  an  individual  did  we  see  in  the  streets.  W^e  met  one 
woman  with  a  flat  piece  of  gold  or  gilt  metal  on  the  forehead,  and 
a  similar  piece  behind  :  she  wore  also  long  gold  ear-rings.  This, 
however,  is  not  an  unusual  costume  for  the  affluent  peasantry 
elsewhere.  We  pulled  off  our  hats  to  the  Broek  belle,  but  had 
no  salutation  in  return.  The  general  seclusion  of  the  village, 
from  which  nothing  could  be  seen  but  meadows  with  ditches, 
the  silence  of  the  streets,  the  perfect  stillness  and  neatness  of 
the  objects,  every  dwelling  resembling  a  summer-house  rather 
than  an  ordinary  residence,  the  cheerful  and  unusual  colors, 
and  the  absence  of  all  the  objects  which  denote  a  hard-working 
race  of  men,  gave  to  the  w^hole  place  an  air  absolutely  Arca- 
dian. The  only  objects  which  disturbed  this  impression  were 
several  houses  of  a  better  description,  with  large  windows, 
gilded  shutters,  carved  frontispieces,  and  the  other  ornaments 
of  a  fashionable  house.  One  in  particular  had  a  porch  with 
Corinthian  pillars,  and  a  large  garden  with  high,  clipped  trees. 


1815.] 


THE  NORTH-HOLLANDERS. 


321 


1     One  surgeon's  house  had  an  announcement  that  wine  and 

j  strong  liquors  were  to  be  had,  —  as  if  these  were  still,  in  this 
Dutch  Arcadia,  articles  of  medicine  only.  It  is  said  that  there 
is  no  public-house  in  Broek.    We  saw  one,  but  did  not  go  in. 

I     It  did  not  look  like  the  rest  of  the  houses. 

I  We  were  next  driven  to  Saardam,  where  we  visited  the  hut 
which  alone  brings  many  an  idle  traveller  to  the  place,  and  in 
which  Peter  of  Russia  resided  while  he  learnt  the  trade  of 
ship-building,  performing  the  work  of  a  common  shipwright. 
It  is  certainly  right  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  an  act  in 
T/hich  an  admirable  sentiment  prevailed,  whatever  want  of 
good  sense  and  judgment  there  might  be  in  it.  The  hut  has 
nothing  particular  about  it,  except  that  it  is  worse  than  the 
other  huts,  it  being  of  course  a  principle  to  keep  it  in  its  origi- 
nal condition.  While  in  this  singular  village  we  saw  a  school 
in  which  the  children  were  singing  to  the  tune  of  "  God  save 
the  King."  This  is  become  the  general  tune  throughout  Eu- 
rope for  the  partisans  of  legal  and  restored  monarchs,  though 
originally  written  in  honor  of  an  elected  sovereign  house.  ^ 

This  belongs  to  the  agreeable  days  of  my  tour.  I  had  seen 
life  in  a  new  shape, — -one  of  the  varieties  of  human  existence 
with  which  it  is,  or  rather  may  useful  to  become  acquainted. 
Yet  I  ought  to  add  that  I  saw  little  of  these  North-Hollanders, 
and  cannot  tell- what  their  manners  and  morals  may  be.  There 
is  certainly  no  virtue  in  selfish  seclusion  from  the  world.  The 
neighborhood  of  such  a  city  as  Amsterdam  must  supply  oppor- 
tunities for  the  vices  w^hich  will  spring  up  in  any  soil.  Yet, 
certainly,  in  the  insulated  and  clannish  spirit  w^hich  prevails 
in  these  villages  there  is  generated  a  benevolence,  or  extension 
of  selfishness  beyond  the  individual,  which  may  protect  the 
members  of  the  clan  and  inhabitants  of  the  island  from  the 
severest  evils  of  life.  So  that,  though  perhaps  these  peasants 
are  not  especial  objects  of  love  or  admiration,  yet  they  may  be 
envied  by  .those  who  have  witnessed,  if  not  experienced,  the 
heavier  calamities  so  frequently  arising  in  the  more  polished 
and  more  highly  civilized  circles  of  life  elsewhere. 

At  Haarlem  I  heard  the  celebrated  organ  in  the  great 
church.  *I  am  half  afraid  to  say  in  writing  how  much  I  was 
gratified.  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  saying  and  believing 
that  I  have  no  ear  for  music,  and  certainly  I  have  suffered 
ennui  at  listening  to  some  which  others  thought  very  fine,  but 
to  this  I  listened  with  delight,  and  was  quite  sorry  when  it 
ceased. 

14*  u 


322     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 

I  was  amused  with  the  gorgeous  show  in  the  Greek  church 
at  Amsterdam.  I  was  pleased  with  the  Hague,  and  with  the 
lioyal  Palace  called  the  House  in  the  Wood.  I  was  struck  also 
with  the  Bies  Bosch,  the  melancholy  memorial  of  a  frightful 
inundation  near  Dort,  which  took  place  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. 

On  the  church  tower  of  Utrecht  I  fell  in  with  the  Masque- 
riers,  with  whom  was  Walton,  an  attorney.  With  him  I  after- 
wards became  acquainted.  I  returned  to  England  on  the  2d 
of  September. 


September  22d.  —  At  the  end  of  a  visit  to  my  friends  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  Pattisson,  at  Witham,  I  went  to  take  leave  of  Mrs. 
Pattisson,  Sen.  She  began  interrogating  me  about  my  religious 
opinions.  This  she  did  in  a  way  so  kind  and  benevolent  that 
I  could  not  be  displeased,  or  consider  her  impertinent.  I  w^as 
unable  to  answer  her  as  I  could  wish.    However,  I  did  not 

scruple  to  declare  to  her  that  such  orthodoxy  as  Mr.  N  's 

would  deter  me  from  Christianity.  I  cannot  wish  to  have  a 
belief  which  excludes  from  salvation  such  persons  as  my  own 
dear  mother,  my  uncle  Crabb,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  best 
people  I  have  ever  known. 

October  Jfth,  —  (On  a  visit  to  my  brother  Habakkuk  at  Bag- 
shot.)  After  dining  tete-h-tete  with  my  niece  Elizabeth,  and 
playing  backgammon  with  her,  we  called  on  Mrs.  Kitchener 
and  took  tea  with  her.  Mrs.  Cooper  (the  widow  of  the  former 
clergyman  at  Bagshot),  who  was  there,  related  to  me  some 
singular  circumstances  about  the  state  of  her  husband's  mind 
in  his  last  illness.  .He  was  then  more  than  eighty  years  of 
age.  He  imagined  himself  to  be  dead,  and  gave  directions  as 
for  the  burial  of  a  dead  man ;  and  he  remained  in  this  persua- 
sion for  several  weeks.  At  one  time  he  desired  a  note  to  be 
sent  to  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  announcing  his  death.  At 
another  time  he  desired  that  the  mourners  might  be  well  pro- 
vided for,  and  inquired  about  the  preparations  made.  In  par- 
ticular on  one  occasion  when  a  clean  shirt  was  being  put  on, 
he  reminded  the  servants  that,  being  a  corpse,  they  must  put 
on  nothing  but  woollen,  or  they  would  incur  a  penalty. 
When  told  that,  if  dead,  he  could  not  talk  about  it,  he  for 
a  moment  perceived  the  absurdity  of  his  notion,  but  soon 
relapsed. 

October  26th.  —  At  work  in  my  chambers  in  the  forenoon. 


HANNAH  MORE'S  TRAGEDY. 


323 


After  dining  at  Collier's  I  went  to  Flaxman's.  I  had  not  seen 
him  for  many  months,  and  was  glad  to  find  all  the  family  well, 
Mrs.  Flaxman  in  particular  recovered.  We  chatted  about  my 
journey  to  Holland.  Flaxman  speaks  with  contempt  of  Dutch 
statuary.  He  rejoices  in  the  restoration  of  the  works  of  art  to 
Italy.* 

November  5th,  —  (At  Koyston  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Wedd.)  We 
dined  late.  W.  Nash  and  T.  Nash  of  Whittlesford  with  us. 
The  afternoon  spent  agreeably.  In  the  evening  Mr.  Nash  came 
to  us.  He  was  in  good  spirits.  The  cheerful  benignity  of  the 
old  gentleman  renders  him  delightful,  but  age  is  advancing 
rapidly  on  him,  and  his  faculties  are  growing  blind  with  years. 
He  is,  however,  with  all  his  infirmities,  the  model  of  a  ven- 
erable old  man.  It  is  a  felicity  to  live  within  the  influence 
of  such  a  character,  who  creates  a  society  by  his  personal 
virtues. 

November  11th,  —  Went  to  see  the  play  of  "  Percy,"  by 
Hannah  More.  It  is  much  like  "  Gabrielle  de  Yergy."  The 
situation  is  highly  interesting.  A  chaste  and  noble-minded 
woman  having  been  forced  to  marry  a  man  she  hates,  the  rival, 
whom  she  loves,  suddenly  returns,  ignorant  of  her  marriage. 
The  husband  furiously  jealous  and  cruel,  &c.,  &c.  Of  course 
they  all  die  as  in  ^'  Gabrielle."  Miss  O'Neil  gave  great  interest 
to  the  play  during  the  first  three  acts.  Her  tenderness  is  ex- 
quisite, and  her  expression  of  disgust  and  horror,  while  she 
averts  her  countenance  and  hides  it  with  her  hands,  is  pecu- 
liarly masterly.  This  single  expression  she  has  elaborately 
studied.  Young  played  the  jealous  husband  with  spirit,  but 
Charles  Kemble  was  a  mere  ranting  lover  as  Percy.  He  ought 
not  to  have  given  the  name  to  the  play. 

November  12th.  —  Continued  reading  Wraxall.  A  repartee 
of  Burke's  pleased  me.  David  Hartley,  Member  for  Hull,  was 
the  dullest  of  speakers  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Having 
spoken  so  long  as  to  drive  away  the  greater  number  of  the 
members  (more  than  three  hundred  having  dwindled  down  to 
eighty),  he  moved  that  the  Riot  Act  should  be  read  at  the 
table,  on  which  Burke,  who  sat  next  him,  exclaimed  :  "  My 

When,  in  1815,  the  allied  sovereigns  arrived  in  Paris,  they  insisted  upon 
the  restoration  of  the  objects  of  art  which  had  been  pillaged  from  various 
places  by  the  orders  of  Napoleon.  "  A  memorial  from  all  the  artists  of  Em'ope 
at  Rome  claimed  for  the  Eternal  City  the  entire  restoration  of  the  immortal 
works  of  art  which  had  once  adorned  it.  The  allied  sovereigns  acceded  to  the 
just  demand;  and  Canova,  impassioned  for  the  arts,  and  the  city  of  his  choice, 
hastened  to  Paris  to  superintend  the  removal.  It  was  most  effectually  done." 
—  Alison's  Europe,  Vol.  XIL,  286,  9th  edition. 


324     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBLNSON.  [Chap.  18. 


dear  friend  !  why,  in  God's  name,  read  the  Riot  Act  1  Do  not 
you  see  that  the  mob  are  dispersed  already  ?  "  * 

November  14-th.  —  Dined  at  the  Hall.  After  nine  I  called 
on  Charles  Lamb.  He  was  much  better  in  health  and  spirits 
than  when  I  saw  him  last.  Though  tUe-h-tete,  he  was  able  to 
pun.  I  was  speaking  of  my  first  brief,  when  he  asked,  "  Did 
you  not  exclaim,  — 

Thou  great  first  cause,  least  understood  ?  " 

November  22d,  —  Accompanied  Miss  Nash  to  the  theatre, 
and  saw  "  Tamerlane,"  a  very  dull  play.  It  is  more  stuffed 
with  trite  declamation,  and  that  of  an  inferior  kind,  than  any 
piece  I  recollect.  It  is  a  compendium  of  political  common- 
places. And  the  piece  is  not  the  more  valuable  because  the 
doctrines  are  very  wholesome  and  satisfactory.  Tamerlane  is 
a  sort  of  regal  Sir  Charles  Grandison,  —  a  perfect  king,  very 
wise  and  insipid.  He  was  not  unfitly  represented  by  Pope,  if 
the  character  be  intended  merely  as  a  foil  to  that  of  the  fero- 
cious Bajazet.  Kean  performed  that  character  throughout 
under  the  idea  of  his  being  a  two-legged  heast.  He  rushed  on 
the  stage  at  his  first  appearance  as  a  wild  beast  may  be  sup- 
posed to  enter  a  new  den  to  which  his  keepers  have  transferred 
him.  His  tartan  whiskers  improved  the  natural  excellence  of 
his  face  ;  his  projecting  under-lip  and  admirably  expressive 
eye  gave  to  his  countenance  all  desirable  vigor ;  and  his  exhi- 
bition of  rage  and  hatred  was  very  excellent.  But  there  was 
no  relief  as  there  would  have  been  had  the  bursts  of  feeling 
been  only  occasional.  In  the  happy  representation  of  one 
passion  Kean  afforded  me  great  pleasure ;  but  this  was  all  I 
enjoyed. 

November  2Jfth,  —  I  called  on  Lamb,  and  chatted  an  hour 
with  him.  Talfourd  stepped  in,  and  we  had  a  pleasant  con- 
versation. Lamb  has  a  very  exclusive  taste,  and  spoke  with 
equal  contempt  of  Voltaire's  Tales  and  ^'  Gil  Bias."  He  may 
be  right  in  thinking  the  latter  belongs  to  a  low  class  of  com- 
positions, but  he  ought  not  to  deny  that  it  has  excellence  of  its 
kind. 

November  27th,  —  I  dined  at  Collier's,  and  somewhat  late 
went  to  Mrs.  Joddrel's.  There  was  an  illumination  to-night  for 
the  Peace,  but  it  did  not  occur  to  me  to  look  at  a  single  public 
building,  and  I  believe  no  one  cared  about  it.    A  duller  re- 

*  "  Historical  Memoirs  of  my  Own  Time,"  by  Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall.  Vol.  II. 
p.  377. 


1815.] 


HAZLITT.  —  COULSON.  —  KEAN. 


325 


joicing  could  not  be  conceived.  There  was  hardly  a  crowd  in 
the  streets. 

December  5th.  —  Went  to  the  Surrey  Institution  in  the  even- 
ing, and  heard  a  lecture  on  the  Philosophy  of  Art,  by  Land- 
seer.*  He  is  animated  in  his  style,  but  his  animation  is  pro- 
duced by  indulgence  in  sarcasms,  and  in  emphatic  diction.  He 
pronounces  his  words  in  italics  ;  and  by  coloring  strongly  he 
produces  an  effect  easily. 

December  7th.  —  I  spent  several  hours  at  the  Clerkenwell 
Sessions.  A  case  came  before  the  court  ludicrous  from  the 
minuteness  required  in  the  examination.  Was  the  pauper 
settled  in  parish  A  or  B  ^  The  house  he  occupied  was  in 
both  parishes,  and  models  both  of  the  house  and  the  bed  in 
which  the  pauper  slept  were  laid  before  the  court,  that  it 
inight  ascertain  how  much  of  his  body  lay  in  each  parish. 
The  court  held  the  pauper  to  be  settled  where  his  head  (being 
the  nobler  part)  lay,  though  one  of  his  legs  at  least,  and 
great  part  of  his  body,  lay  out  of  that  parish.  Quod  notan- 
dum  est  1 

December  9th,  —  I  read  term  reports  in  the  forenoon,  and 
after  dining  with  the  Colliers  returned  to  my  chambers  till 
seven,  when  I  went  to  Alsager's.  There  T  met  the  Lambs, 
Hazlitt,  Burrell,  AyrtOn,  Coulson,  Sleigh,  &c.  I  enjoyed  the 
evening,  though  I  lost  at  cards,  as  I  have  uniformly  done. 
Hazlitt  was  sober,  argumentative,  acute,  and  interesting.  I 
did  not  converse  with  him,  but  enjoyed  his  conversation  with 
others.  Lamb  was  good-humored  and  droll,  with  great  origi- 
nality, as  usual.  Coulson  was  a  new  man  almost  to  me.  He  is 
said  to  be  a  prodigy  of  knowledge,  —  a  young  eleve  of  Jeremy 
Bentham,  —  a  reporter  for  The  Chronicle. 

December  19th.  —  Spent  the  morning  at  Guildhall  agreeably. 
After  dining  at  the  Colliers',  I  took  a  hasty  cup  of  tea  with 
Naylor,  and  was  followed  by  him  to  Drury  Lane  Theatre.  We 
saw  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  play  of  "  The  Beggar's  Bush." 
For  the  first  time  I  saw  Kean  without  any  pleasure  whatever. 
He  has  no  personal  dignity  to  supply  the  want  of  dress.  No 
one  suspects  the  Prince  in  the  Merchant,  and  even  as  the  Mer- 

*  John  Landseer,  an  engraver  of  considerable  talent,  and  father  of  the  present 
Sir  Edwin  Landseer.  He  was  born  at  Lincoln,  1769.  In  his  later  years  the  pen 
i-nperseded  the  burin.  He  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  engraving  at  the 
Royal  Institution  in  1806;  his  best  known  literary  works  are  "  Sabasan 
Researches  "  and  a  "  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  Pictures  in  the  National  Gal- 
lery." His  best  engraving  is  from  his  son's  well-known  picture,  "  The  Dogs  of 
St.  Bernard."    He  died  in  February,  1852. 


326     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  18. 

chant  he  has  not  an  air  of  munificence.  He  inspires  no  re- 
spect whatever ;  and  he  has  no  opportunity  for  the  display 
of  his  pecuHar  excellence,  —  bursts  of  passion.  The  beggar- 
scenes  and  the  lojsii  burgomaster  of  Bruges  are  very  pleasant. 

Who's  Who '? "  a  farce  by  Poole,  has  an  amusing  scene  or 
two.  Munden  as  a  knavish  Apothecary's  shopman,  and  Har- 
ley  as  the  Apothecary,  are  very  comic.  By  the  by,  Harley  is 
a  young  and  promising  actor. 

December  2Sd.  —  I  read  several  chapters  of  Paley's  "  Evi-  - 
dences  of  Christianity,"  having  resolved  to  read  attentively 
and  seriously  that  and  other  works  on  a  subject  transcend ently 
important,  and  which  I  am  ashamed  thus  long  to  have  delayed 
studying.  I  dined  with  the  Colliers  and  spent  some  time  at 
home,  taking  tea  alone.  I  called  on  Long,  and  had  a  short 
chat  with  him.  The  lively  pleasure  he  expressed  at  my  inform- 
ing him  of  the  books  I  intended  to  study  quite  gratified  me. 
He  is  a  most  excellent  creature.  I  look  up  to  him  with  admi- 
ration the  more  I  see  of  him. 

December  27th,  —  Spent  the  morning  at  home  reading  indus- 
triously law  reports.  I  dined  with  Collier,  and  having  read 
again  in  my  room,  I  went  after  six  o'clock  to  Thelwall's,  and 
was  present  at  an  exhibition  which  was  more  amusing  than  I 
expected.  "  Comus  "  was  performed  by  Thelwall's  family  and 
his  pupils.  The  idea  of  causing  Milton's  divine  verse  to  be 
theatrically  recited  by  a  troop  of  stutterers  is  comic  enough, 
but  Thelwall  has  so  far  succeeded  in  his  exertions,  that  he  can 
enable  persons  who  originally  had  strong  impediments  in  their 
speech  to  recite  verse  very  agreeably.  Thelwall  inserted  some 
appropriate  short  verses,  to  be  delivered  by  the  younger  chil- 
dren as  Bacchanals  in  an  interlude,  which  had  a  pleasing  effect. 
He  teaches  his  boys  to  read  with  a  cantilena  ;  and  the  accent 
at  the  close  of  their  lines  is  very  agreeable.  It  is  only  when 
such  words  as  declsi5n  are  pronounced  as  four  syllables,  that  w^e 
are  reminded  of  the  master  uncomfortably. 

December  Slst.  —  I  spent  this  morning  at  my  chambers, 
but  Thomas  breakfasted  with  me,  and  Habakkuk  came  after- 
wards. 

At  half  past  five  T  went  with  the  Amyots  to  Mr.  Hallet's, 
and  dined  there.  It  was  a  family  party,  and  the  evening 
passed  away  comfortably.  I  was  in  good  spirits,  and  the  rest 
of  the  party  agreeable.  The  year  was  dismissed  not  festively 
but  cheerfully. 

It  has  been,  like  most  of  the  years  of  my  life,  a  year  of  un- 


1816,] 


A  LEGAL  SUBTLETY. 


327 


interrupted  health  and  prosperity.  Besides,  it  is  a  year  in 
which  I  have  been  so  successful  in  my  profession,  that  I  have 
a  prospect  of  affluence  if  the  success  continues,  which  I  dare 
not  expect,  and  about  which  I  am  far  less  anxious  than  I  used 
to  be.  I  do  not  now  fear  poverty.  I  am  not,  nor  ever  was, 
desirous  of  riches,  but  my  wants  do  not,  perhaps,  increase  in 
proportion  to  my  means.  My  brother  Thomas  makes  it  a  re- 
proach to  me  that  I  do  not  indulge  myself  more.  This  I  do 
not  think  a  duty,  and  shall  probably  not  make  a  practice.  I 
hope  I  shall  not  contract  habits  of  parsimony.* 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
1816. 

JANUARY  9th,  —  (At  Norwich.)    This  morning  I  went  im- 
mediately after  breakfast  to  a  Jew  dentist,  C  ,  who  put 

in  a  natural  tooth  in  the  place  of  one  I  swallowed  yesterday. 
He  assured  me  it  came  from  Waterloo,  and  promised  me  it 
should  outlast  twelve  artificial  teeth. 

January  17th.  —  (At  Bury.)  I  called  with  sister  on  Mrs. 
Clarkson,  to  take  leave  of  her.  The  Clarksons  leave  Bury  to- 
day, and  are  about  to  settle  on  a  farm  (Play ford)  near  Ipswich. 
No  one  deserves  of  the  present  race  more  than  Clarkson  to  have 
what  Socrates  proudly  claimed  of  his  judges,  —  a  lodging  in 
the  Prytaneion  at  the  public  expense.  This  ought  to  exclude 
painful  anxiety  on  his  account,  if  the  farm  should  not  succeed. 
They  were  in  good  spirits. 

February  6th.  —  I  attended  the  Common  Pleas  this  morn- 
ing, expecting  that  a  demurrer  on  which  we  had  a  consultation 
last  night  would  come  on,  but  it  did  not.  I  heard,  however, 
an  argiunent  worthy  of  the  golden  age  of  the  English  law,  sciL 
the  age  of  the  civil  wars  between  the  Houses  of  York  and  Lan- 
caster, when  the  subtleties  and  refinements  of  the  law  were  in 
high  flourishing  condition,  —  or  the  silver  age,  that  of  the 
Stuarts.  An  almshouse  corporation,  the  warden  and  poor  of 
Croydon,  in  Surrey,  on  the  foundation  of  Archbishop  Whitgift, 
brought  an  action  for  rent  against  their  tenant.    He  pleaded 

*  These  remarks  were  occasioned  by  the  rise  in  H.  C.  K.'s  fees  from  £  219 
in  1814,  to  £  321  16  s.  in  the  present  year ! 


328     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


that,  for  a  good  and  valuable  consideration,  they  had  sold  hirq 
the  land,  as  authorized  by  the  statute,  for  redeeming  land-tax. 
They  replied  that,  in  their  conveyance,  in  setting  out  their 
title,  they  had  omitted  the  words,  of  the  foundation  of  Arch- 
bishop Whitgift,"  and  therefore  they  contended  the  deed  was 
void,  and  that  they  might  still  recover  their  rent,  as  before. 
Good  sense  and  honesty  prevailed  over  technical  sense. 

February  11th,  —  I  walked  to  Newington,  and  dined  with 
Mrs.  Barbauld  and  Miss  Finch.  Miss  Hamond  and  Charles 
Aikin  were  there.  As  usual,  we  were  very  comfortable.  Mrs. 
Barbauld  can  keep  up  a  lively  argumentative  conversation  as 
well  as  any  one  T  know ;  and  at  her  advanced  age  (she  is 
turned  of  seventy),  she  is  certainly  the  best  specimen  of 
female  Presbyterian  society  in  the  country.  N.  B.  —  Anthony 
Robinson  requested  me  to  inquire  whether  she  thought  the 
doctrine  of  Universal  Restoration  scriptural.  She  said  she 
thought  we  must  bring  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures 
a  very  liberal  notion  of  the  beneficence  of  the  Deity  to  find  the 
doctrine  there. 

February  12th,  —  I  dined  with  the  Colliers,  and  in  the  even- 
ing went  to  Drury  Lane  with  Jane  Collier  and  Miss  Lamb,  to 
see  "  A  New  Way  to  pay  Old  Debts,"  a  very  spirited  comedy 
by  Massinger.  Kean's  Sir  Giles  Overreach  is  a  very  fine  piece 
of  acting  indeed.  His  rage  at  the  discovery  of  the  fraud  in  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter  is  wrought  up  to  a  wonderful  height, 
and  becomes  almost  too  tragical.  On  the  contrary,  Munden, 
who  also  plays  admirably  the  part  of  a  knavish  confidant,  is 
infinitely  comical,  and  in  one  or  two  instances  he  played  too 
well,  for  he  disturbed  the  impression  which  Kean  was  to  raise 
by  the  equally  strong  effect  of  his  own  acting.  Oxberry  played 
Greedy,  the  hungry  magistrate,  pleasantly,  and  Harley  was 
thought  to  perform  Wellborn  well ;  but  he  displeases  me  in 
this,  that  he  seems  to  have  no  keeping.  Sometimes  he  re- 
minds one  of  Banister,  sometimes  Lewis ;  so  that  at  last  he 
is  neither  a  character  nor  himself.  Mrs.  Glover  was  agreeable 
in  playing  Lady  All  worth. 

February  15th.  —  A  curious  argument  on  the  law  of  Primo- 
geniture. It  w^as  used  by  my  friend  Pattisson,  and  is  a  scrip- 
tural one.  In  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  the  father  says 
to  his  dissatisfied  elder  son,  "  Son,  all  that  T  have  is  thine," 
which  is  a  recognition  of  the  right  in  the  first-born. 

February  25th,  —  At  eight  I  went  to  Rough's,  where  I  met 
Kean,  —  I  should  say  to  see  him,  not  to  hear  him ;  for  he 


1816.] 


COLERIDGE  HIS  OWN  PUBLISHER. 


329 


scarcely  spoke.  I  should  hardly  have  known  him.  He  has 
certainly  a  fine  eye,  but  his  features  were  relaxed,  as  if  he  had 
undergone  great  fatigue.  When  he  smiles,  his  look  is  rather 
constrained  than  natural.  He  is  but  a  small  man,  and  from 
the  gentleness  of  his  manners  no  one  would  anticipate  the 
actor  who  excels  in  bursts  of  passion. 

March  10th.  —  (On  Circuit  at  Bedford.)  I  was  a  little  scan- 
dalized by  the  observation  of  the  clerk  of  a  prosecutor's  so- 
licitor, in  a  case  in  which  I  was  engaged  for  the  prosecution, 
that  there  was  little  evidence  against  one  of  the  defendants, 

—  that,  in  fact,  he  had  not  been  very  active  in  the  riots, 

—  but  he  was  a  sarcastic  fellow,  and  they  wished  to  punish 
him  by  putting  him  to  the  expense  of  a  defence  without  any 
expectation  of  convicting  him  ! 

April  6th,  —  I  rode  to  London  by  the  old  Cambridge  coach, 
from  ten  to  four. 

Soon  after  I  arrived  I  met  Miss  Lamb  by  accident,  and  in 
consequence  took  tea  with  her  and  Charles.  I  found  Coleridge 
and  Morgan  at  their  house.  Coleridge  had  been  ill,  but  he  was 
tfien,  as  before,  loquacious,  and  in  his  loquacity  mystically  elo- 
quent. He  is  endeavoring  to  bring  a  tragedy  on  the  stage,  in 
which  he  is  not  likely,  I  fear,  to  succeed  ;  and  he  is  printing- 
two  volumes  of  Miscellanies,  including  a  republication  of  his 
poems.  But  he  is  printing  without  a  publisher !  He  read  me 
some  metaphysical  passages,  which  will  be  laughed  at  by  nine 
out  of  ten  readers  ;  but  I  am  told  he  has  written  popularly,  and 
about  himself.  Morgan  is  looking  very  pale,  —  rather  unhappy 
than  ill.  He  attends  Coleridge  with  his  unexampled  assiduity 
and  kindness. 

April  21st.  —  After  dining  I  rode  to  Wattisfield  by  the  day- 
coach.  I  reached  my  uncle  Crabb's  by  tea-time,  and  had  an 
agreeable  evening  with  him  and  Mrs.  Crabb.  I  was  pleased  to 
revive  some  impressions  which  years  have  rendered  inter- 
esting. 

April  22d.  —  This  was  an  indolent  day,  but  far  from  an  un- 
pleasant one.  I  sat  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crabb  a  great  part  of 
the  morning,  and  afterwards  walked  with  Mr.  Crabb,  who  was 
on  horseback,  through  the  street  to  Hill  Green  Farm.  On  the 
road  family  anecdotes  and  village  narratives,  suggested  by  the 
objects  in  view,  rendered  the,  walk  agreeable  to  us  both.  Mr. 
Crabb  is  arrived  at  an  age  when  it  is  a  prime  pleasure  to  relate 
the  history  of  his  early  years  ;  and  I  am  always  an  interested 
listener  on  such  occasions.    I  am  never  tired  by  personal 


330     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


talk.*  The  half-literary  conversation  of  half-learned  people, 
the  commonplaces  of  politics  and  religious  dispute,  are  to  me 
intolerable  ;  but  the  passions  of  men  excited  by  their  genuine 
and  immediate  personal  interest  always  gain  my  sympathy,  or 
sympathy  is  supplied  by  the  observations  they  suggest.  And 
in  such  conversations  there  is  more  truth  and  originality  and 
variety  than  in  the  others,  in  which,  particularly  in  religious 
conversations,  there  is  a  mixture  of  eifher  Pharisaical  impos- 
ture or  imperfect  self-deception.  Men  on  such  occasions  talk 
to  convince  themselves,  not  because  they  have  feelings  they 
must  give  vent  to. 

April  27th.  —  (At  Cambridge.)  I  walked  to  the  coffee-room 
and  read  there  the  beginning  of  the  trial  of  Wilson,  Bruce,  and 
Hutchinson,  for  concealing  Lavalette.  In  the  examination  of 
Sir  K  Wilson,  previous  to  the  trial,  he  gave  one  answer  which 
equals  anything  ever  said  by  an  accused  person  so  examined. 
He  was  asked,  "  Were  you  applied  to,  to  assist  in  concealing 
Lavalette  1"  —  "  I  was."  —  "  Who  applied  to  you  1"  —  "  I  was 
born  and  educated  in  a  country  in  which  the  social  virtues  are 
considered  as  public  virtues,  and  I  have  not  trained  my  mem- 
ory to  a  breach  of  friendship  and  confidence." 

I  dined  in  the  Hall.  Each  mess  of  four  was  allowed  an  ex- 
tra bottle  of  wine  and  a  goose,  in  honor  of  the  marriage  of  the 
Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales  and  the  Prince  of  Saxe-Coburg, 
which  took  place  this  evening. 

May  Jfth,  — I  rode  to  Bury  on  the  outside  of  the  "  Day  " 

coach  from  six  to  three  Between  nine  and  ten  we  were 

alarmed  by  the  intelligence  that  a  fire  had  broken  out.  I  ran 
out,  fearing  it  \fas  at  one  of  the  Mr.  Bucks  ;  but  it  was  at  a 
great  distance.  Many  people  were  on  the  road,  most  of  whom 
were  laughing,  and  seemingly  enjoying  the  fire.  This  was  the 
fifth  or  sixth  fire  that  had  taken  place  within  a  week  or  two, 
and  there  could  be  no  doubt  it  was  an  act  of  arson.  These 
very  alarming  outrages  began  some  time  since,  and  the  pretence 
was  the  existence  of  threshing-machines.  The  farmers  in  the 
neighborhood  have  surrendered  them  up,  and  exposed  them 
broken  on  the  high-road.  Besides,  the  want  of  work  by  the 
poor,  and  the  diminished  price  of  labor,  have  roused  a  danger- 
ous spirit  in  the  common  people,  —  when  roused,  the  most 
formidable  of  enemies. 

*  It  was  otherwise  with  his  friend  Wordsworth :  — 

"  I  am  not  one  who  much  or  oft  dehght 
To  season  my  fireside  with  personal  talk.'* 

Sonnets  entitled  "  Personal  Talk.'*   Vol.  IV.  p.  200. 


J816.] 


BUONAPARTISM. 


331 


May  28th,  —  Called  on  Godwin.  He  was  lately  with 
Wordsworth,  and,  after  spending  a  night  at  his  house,  seems 
to  have  left  him  with  feelings  of  strong  political  difference  ; 
and  it  was  this  alone,  I  believe,  which  kept  them  aloof  from 
each  other.  I  have  learned  to  bear  with  the  intolerance  of 
others  when  I  understand  it.  While  Buonaparte  threatened 
Europe  with  his  all-embracing  military  despotism,  I  felt  that  all 
other  causes  of  anxiety  and  fear  were  insignificant,  and  I  was 
content  to  forget  the  natural  tendencies  of  the  regular  govern- 
ments to  absolute  power,  of  the  people  in  those  states  to  cor- 
ruption, and  of  Roman  Catholicism  to  a  stupid  and  degrading 
religious  bigotry.  In  spite  of  these  tendencies,  Europe  was 
rising  morally  and  intellectually,  when  the  French  Revolution, 
after  promising  to  advance  the  world  rapidly  in  its  progress 
towards  perfection,  suddenly,  by  the  woful  turn  it  took,  threw 
the  age  back  in  its  expectations,  almost  in  its  wishes,  till  at 
last,  from  alarm  and  anxiety,  even  zealous  reformers  were  glad 
to  compromise  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  purchase  national  in- 
dependence and  political  liberty  at  the  expense  of  civil  liberty 
in  France,  Italy,  cfec.  Most  intensely  did  I  rejoice  at  the 
counter-Re  volution.  I  had  also  rejoiced,  when  a  boy,  at  the 
Revolution,  and  I  am  ashamed  of  neither  sentiment.  And  I 
shall  not  be  ashamed,  though  the  Bourbon  government  should 
be  as  vile  as  any  which  France  was  cursed  with  under  the  ances- 
tors of  Louis  XVIII.,  and  though  the  promises  of  liberty  given 
to  the  Germans  by  their  sovereigns  should  all  be  broken,  and 
though  Italy  and  Spain  should  relapse  into  the  deepest  horrors 
of  Papal  superstition.  To  rejoice  in  immediate  good  is  per- 
mitted to  us.  The  immediate  alone  is  within  our  scope  of 
action  and  observation.  But  now  that  the  old  system  is  re- 
stored, with  it  the  old  cares  and  apprehensions  revive  also. 
And  I  am  sorry  that  Wordsworth  cannot  change  with  the 
times.  He  ought,  I  think,  now  to  exhort  our  government  to 
economy,  and  to  represent  the  dangers  of  a  thoughtless  return 
to  all  that  was  in  existence  twenty-five  years  ago.  Of  the  in- 
tegrity of  Wordsworth  I  have  no  doubt,  and  of  his  genius  I 
have  an  unbounded  admiration  ;  but  I  doubt  the  discretion 
and  wisdom  of  his  latest  political  writings. 

June  12th,  —  Flaxman  spoke  about  West.  I  related  the  an- 
ecdote in  his  Life  *  of  his  first  seeing  the  Apollo,  and  comparing 

*  The  Life  and  Studies  of  Benjamin  West,  Esq.,  President  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  London,  prior  to  his  Arrival  in  England,  compiled  from  Materials 
furnished  by  Himself."    By  John  Gait.   London,  1816.    This  book  was  pub' 


332     REMINISCEISCKS  OF  HENRY  CKABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


it  to  a  Mohawk  warrior.  Flaxman  laughed,  and  said  it  was 
the  criticism  of  one  ahiiost  as  great  a  savage  ;  for  though  there 
might  be  a  coarse  similarity  in  the  attitude,  Apollo  having 
shot  an  arrow,  yet  the  figure  of  the  Mohawk  must  have  been 
altogetlier  unlike  that  of  the  god.  This  anecdote  Flaxman 
says  he  heard  West  relate  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  in  a 
discourse  delivered  as  President  of  the  Academy.  The  an- 
ecdotes of  West's  first  drawing  before  he  had  seen  a  picture 
Flaxman  considers  as  fabulous. 

June  IJfth,  —  Manning,  after  breakfasting  with  me,  accom- 
panied me  to  the  Italian  pictures.*  The  gratification  was  not 
less  than  before.  The  admirable  "  Ecce  Homo  "  of  Guido  in 
particular  delighted  me,  and  also  Murillo's  "  Marriage  at 
Cana."  Amyot  joined  me  there.  Also  I  met  Flaxman,  and 
with  him  was  Martin  Shee,  whom  I  chatted  with.  Shee  was 
strong  in  his  censure  of  allegory,  and  incidentally  adverted  to 
a  lady  who  reproached  him  with  being  unable  to  relish  a  cer- 
tain poet  because  he  wanted  piety.  The  lady  and  poet,  it  ap- 
peared, were  Lady  Beaumont  and  Wordsworth.  Both  Flaxman 
and  Shee  defended  the  conceit  in  the  picture  of  the  Holy 
Family  in  the  Stable,"  in  which  the  light  issues  from  the 
child ;  and  Flaxman  quoted  in  its  justification  the  expression 
of  the  Scriptures,  that  Christ ^came  as  a  light,.^  &c. 

June  23d.  —  I  dined  at  Mr.  Rutt's.  I  had  intended  to  sleep 
there  ;  but  as  Mr.  Rutt  goes  early  to  bed,  I  preferred  a  late 
walk  home,  from  half  past  ten  to  twelve.  And  I  enjoyed  the 
walk,  though  the  evening  was  not  very  fine.  I  met  a  tipsy 
man,  whom  I  chatted  with,  and  as  he  was  a  laborer  of  the  low- 
est class,  but  seemingly  of  a  quiet  mind,  I  was  glad  to  meet 
w^ith  so  fair  a  specimen  of  mob  feeling.  He  praised  Sir  Francis 

lished  during  the  painter's  life.  A  Second  Part,  relating  to  his  life  and  studies 
after  his  arrival  in  England,  appeared  just  after  his  death  in  1820,  most  of  it 
having  been  printed  during  his  last  illness.  The  anecdote  referred  to  will  be 
found  in  the  First  Part,  p.  105. 

*  At  the  British  Institution,  previously  Boydell's  Shakespeare  Gallery,  in 
Pall  Mall,  and  within  the  last  few  months"  destroyed.  This  Exhibition,  opened 
in  May,  1816,  was  the  first  collection  which  the  directors  had  formed  of  Italian 
and  Spanish  paintings.  The  "  Ecce  Homo"  by  Guido,  mentioned  in  the  text, 
WHS  probably  the  one  (No.  33  of  the  Catalogue)  from  Stratton,  belonging  to  Sir 
T.  Baring.  A  second  "  Ecce  Homo,"  No.  55,  then  belonging  to  Mr.  West,  and 
afterwards  bequeathed  by  the  poet  Rogers  to  the  National  Gallery,  would  have 
been  too  painful  in  treatment  to  have  elicited  the  expression  used  above.  Mu- 
rillo's "  Marriage  at  Cana,"  No.  10  of  the  Catalogue,  then  belonged  to  Mr.  G. 
Hibbert.  It  had  formerly  been  in  the  Julienne,  Presle,  nnd  Robit  Collections. 
It  Is  now  at  Tottenham  Park,  Wilts,  the  propertv  of  the  Marquis  of  Ailesbury. 
The  "  Holy  Family  in  the  Stable  "  was  the  "  Adoration  of  the  Magi."  either 
No.  22,  the  fine  Paul  Veronese,  from  the  Crozat  Collection,  or  115,  the  Carlo 
Dolci,  belonging  respectively  to  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen  and  to  Earl  Cowper. 


1816.]  ''TIMES"  DINNER-PARTY.  333 

Burdett  as  the  people's  friend  and  only  good  man  in  the  king- 
dom ;  yet  he  did  not  seem  to  think  flogging  either  sailors  or 
soldiers  a  very  bad  thing.  He  had  been  assisting  in  building 
the  new  Tothill  Fields  Prison,  and  said  he  would  rather  be 
hanged  than  imprisoned  there  seven  years.  He  was  somewhat 
mysterious  on  this  head.  He  said  he  would  never  sing,  Brit- 
ons never  shall  be  Slaves,"  for  Britons  are  all  slaves.  Yet  he 
wished  for  war,  because  there  would  be  w^ork  for  the  poor.  If 
this  be  the  general  feeling  of  the  lower  classes,  the  public  peace 
can  only  be  preserved  by  a  vigilant  police  and  severe  laws. 

July  Jfth,  —  I  dined  with  Walter.  A  small  party.  Dr. 
Stoddart,  Sterling,  Sydenham,  &c.  The  dinner  was  small  but 
of  the  first  quality,  —  turbot,  turtle,  and  venison,  fowls  and 
ham  ;  wines,  champagne,  and  claret.  Sydenham  was  once  re- 
puted to  be  "  Vet  us,"  but  his  conversation  is  only  intelligent 
and  anecdotic  and  gentlemanly  ;  he  is  neither  logical,  nor  sar- 
castic, nor  pointedly  acute.  He  is  therefore  certainly  not 
"  Vetus."  He  is  a  partisan  of  the  Wellesleys,  having  been 
with  the  Duke  in  India.  Sterling  is  a  sensible  man.  They 
were  all  unfavorable  to  the  actual  -  ministry,  and  their  fall 
within  six  months  was  very  confidently  announced. 

July  6th.  —  I  took  tea  with  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and  played  chess 

with  her  till  late.   Miss  H  was  there,  and  delighted  at  the 

expectation  of  hearing  a  song  composed  by  her  sung  at  Covent 
Garden.  When,  however,  I  mentioned  this  to  her  brother,  in 
a  jocular  manner,  he  made  no  answer,  and  seemed  almost  of- 
fended. Sometimes  I  regret  a  want  of  sensibility  in  my  nature, 
but  when  such  cases  of  perverted  intensity  of  feeling  are  brought 
to  my  observation,  I  rejoice  at  my  neutral  apathetic  character, 
as  better  than  the  more  sanguine  and  choleric  temperament, 
which  is  so  dangerous  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  so  popular 
and  respectable.  The  older  I  grow,  the  more  I  am  satisfied, 
on  prudential  grounds,  with  the  constitution  of  my  sensitive 
nature.  I  am  persuaded  that  there  are  very  few  persons  who 
suffer  so  little  pain  of  all  kinds  as  I  do  ;  and  if  the  absence  of 
vice  be  the  beginning  of  virtue,  so  the  absence  of  suffering  is 
the  beginning  of  enjoyment.  I  must  confess,  however,  that  I 
think  my  own  nature  an  object  of  felicitation  rather  than  ap- 
plause. 

July  ISth,  —  An  unsettled  morning.  My  print  of  Leonardo 
da  Vinci's  "  Vierge  aux  Rochers  "  was  brought  home  framed.  I 
took  it  to  Miss  Lamb  as  a  present.  She  was  much  pleased  with 
it,  and  so  was  Lamb,  and  I  lost  much  of  the  morning  in  chat- 


334     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


ting  with  Miss  Lamb.  I  dined  at  the  Colliers'.  After  dinner 
I  went  to  Lamb's  and  took  tea  with  him.  White  of  the  India 
House  was  there.  We  played  three  rubbers  of  whist.  Lamb 
was  in  great  good-humor,  delighted  like  a  child  with  his  pres- 
ent ;  but  I  am  to  change  the  frame  for  him,  as  all  his  other 
frames  are  black.  How  Lamb  confirms  the  remark  of  the  child- 
likeness  of  genius  ! 

Sunday,  IJfth,  —  I  walked  to  Becher,  and  he  accompanied 
me  to  Oilman's,  an  apothecary  at  Highgate,  with  whom  Cole- 
ridge is  now  staying.  And  he  seems  to  have  profited  already 
by  the  abstinence  from  opium,  &c.,  for  I  never  saw  him  look 
so  well.  He  talked  very  sensibly,  but  less  eloquently  and  ve- 
hemently than  usual.  He  asked  me  to  lend  him  some  books, 
&c.,  and  related  a  history  of  the  great  injustice  done  him  in 
the  reports  circulated  about  his  losing  books.  And  certainly  I 
ought  not  to  join  in  the  reproach,  for  he  gave  me  to-day  Kant's 
works,  three  vols.,  miscellaneous.  Coleridge  talked  about 
Goethe's  work  on  the  theory  of  colors,  and  said  he  had  some 
years  back  discovered  the  same  theory,  and  would  certainly 
have  reduced  it  to  form,  and  published  it,  had  not  Southey 
diverted  his  attention  from  such  studies  to  poetry.  On  my 
mentioning  that  I  had  heard  that  an  English  work  had  been 
published  lately,  developing  the  same  system,  Coleridge  an- 
swered, with  great  naivete,  that  he  was  very  free  in  communi- 
cating his  thoughts  on  the  subject  wherever  he  went,  and 
among  literary  people. 

July  18th,  —  The  day  was  showery,  but  not  very  unpleasant. 
I  read  and  finished  Ooethe's  first  No.  "  Ueber  Kunst,"  &c., 
giving  an  account  of  the  works  of  art  to  be  met  with  on  the 
Rhine.  It  is  principally  remarkable  as  evincing  the  great 
poet's  generous  and  disinterested  zeal  for  the  arts.  He  seems 
to  rejoice  as  cordially  in  whatever  can  promote  the  intellectual 
prosperity  of  his  country  as  in  the  success  of  his  own  great 
masterpieces  of  art.  His  account  of  the  early  painting  dis- 
covered at  Cologne,  and  of  the  discovered  design  of  the 
Cathedral,  is  very  interesting  indeed.  I  also  read  "Des 
Epimenides  Erwachen,"  a  kind  of  mask.  It  is  an  allegory,  and 
of  course  has  no  great  pretensions ;  but  there  are  fine  moral 
and  didactic  lines  in  very  beautiful  diction. 

July  23d.  —  (At  Bury.)  This  day  was  spent  in  court  from 
ten  to  half  past  five.  It  was  occupied  in  the  trial  of  several 
sets  of  rioters,  the  defence  of  whom  Leach  brought  me.  1  was 
better  pleased  with  myself  than  yesterday,  and  I  succeeded  ra 


1816.] 


TKIALS  OF  AGRICULTURAL  RIOTERS. 


335 


getting  off  some  individuals  who  would  otherwise  have  been 
convicted.  In  the  trial  of  fifteen  Stoke  rioters,  who  broke  a 
threshing-machine,  I  made  rather  a  long  speech,  but  with  little 
effect.  All  were  convicted  but  two,  against  whom  no  evidence 
was  brought.  I  urged  that  the  evidence  of  mere  presence 
against  four  others  was  not  sufficient  to  convict  them  ;  and  had 
not  the  jury  been  very  stupid,  and  the  foreman  quite  incompe- 
tent, there  would  have  been  an  acquittal. 

On  the  trial  of  five  rioters  at  Clare,  I  submitted  to  the  con- 
viction of  four.    One  was  acquitted. 

On  the  trial  of  six  rioters  at  Hunden,  three  were  convicted, 
for  they  were,  proved  to  have  taken  an  active  share  in  destroy- 
ing the  threshing-machine.  Alderson,  who  conducted  all  the 
prosecutions,  consented  to  acquit  one,  and  two  others  were  ac- 
quitted because  the  one  witness  who  swore  to  more  than 
mere  presence  was  contradicted  by  two  witnesses  I  called, 
though  the  contradiction  was  not  of  the  most  pleasing 
kind. 

We  adjourned  at  half  past  five.  One  trial  for  a  conspiracy 
took  place,  in  which  I  had  no  concern,  and  it  was  the  only  con- 
tested matter  in  which  I  was  not  employed,  —  a  very  gratifying 
and  promising  circumstance. 

July  2Jfik,  —  I  was  in  court  from  ten  o'clock  to  three.  The 
Rattlesden  rioters,  thirty  in  number,  were  tried.  All  were 
convicted  except  four,  whom  Alderson  consented  to  discharge, 
and  one  who  proved  that  he  was  compelled  to  join  the  rioters. 
Morgan,  a  fine,  high-spirited  old  man  of  near  seventy,  who 
alone  ventured  among  the  mob,  defying  them  without  receiving 
any  injury  and  by  his  courage  gaining  universal  respect,  de- 
posed with  such  particularity  to  every  one  of  the  rioters,  that 
it  was  in  vain  to  make  any  defence.  I  made  some  general 
observations  in  behalf  of  the  prisoners,  and  the  Bench, 
having  sentenced  one  to  two  years'  imprisonment,  and  others 
to  one  year  and  six  months'  imprisonment,  dismissed  the 
greater  number  on  their  finding  security  for  their  good  be- 
havior. 

August  Sd.  —  (Bedford.)  An  agreeable  day,  being  relieved 
from  the  burdensome  society  of  the  circuit.  I  breakfasted 
with  Mr.  Green,  and  about  ten,  Swabey  and  Jameson  accom- 
panied me  to  the  village  of  Cardington.  Here  we  looked  over 
the  parish  church,  in  which  is  erected  a  beautiful  monument 
by  Bacon  in  memory  of  the  elder  Whitbread.  Two  female 
figures  in  alto  and  basso  relief  are  supporthig  a  dying  figure. 


336     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


The  church  has  other  monuments  of  less  elaborate  workman- 
ship, and  is  throughout  an  interesting  village  church,  very  neat 
and  handsome  without  finery. 

Jameson  and  I  then  looked  into  the  garden  of  Captain 
Waldegrave,  remarkable  as  having  been  planted  by  the  cele- 
brated John  Howard,  who  lived  here  before  he  undertook  the 
voyages  which  rendered  his  life  and  his  death  memorable.  An 
old  man,  Howard's  gardener,  aged  eighty-six,  showed  us  the 
grotto  left  in  the  condition  in  which  it  was  when  Howard  lived 
there.  The  garden  is  chiefly  interesting  from  the  recollections 
which  it  introduces  of  the  very  excellent  man  who  resided 
on  the  spot,  and  in  which  should  be  placed,  as  the  most  sig- 
nificant and  desirable  memorial,  some  representation  of  his 
person.  The  village  is  very  pretty.  Howard's  family  are 
buried  in  the  church,  and  there  is  a  small  tablet  to  his  mem- 
ory :  "  John  Howard,  died  at  Cherson,  in  Eussian  Tartary. 
January  20,  1790." 

July  19th.  —  (Ipswich.)  I  rose  at  six,  and  enjoyed  a  leis- 
urely walk  to  Play  ford,  at  four  miles'  distance,  over  a  very 
agreeable  country,  well  cultivated  and  diversified  by  gentle 
hills.  Playford  Hall  stands  in  a  valley.  It  consists  of  one 
half  of  an  ancient  hall  of  considerable  antiquity,  which  had 
originally  consisted  of  a  regular  three-sided  edifice,  a  row  of 
columns  having  filled  the  fourth  side  of  the  square.  There  is 
a  moated  ditch  round  the  building,  and  by  stopping  the  isswe 
of  water,  which  enters  by  a  never-failing,  though  small  stream, 
the  ditch  may  be  filled  at  any  time.  The  mansion  is  of 
brick,  and  the  walls  are  .very  thick  indeed.  Some  ancient 
chimneys,  and  some  large  windows  with  stone  frames  of  good 
thickness,  show  the  former  splendor  of  the  residence.  Lord 
Bristol  is  the  owner  of  the  estate,  to  which  belongs  four  or  five 
hundred  acres,  and  which  Mr.  Clarkson  now  has  on  a  twenty- 
one  years'  lease.  Mr.  Clarkson,  on  my  arrival,  showed  me 
about  the  garden  ;  and  after  I  had  breakfasted,  Mrs.  Clarkson 
came  down,  and  I  spent  a  long  morning  very  agreeably  with 
her.  We  walked  to  the  parish  church,  up  and  down  the 
valley,  round  the  fields,  &c.,  and  I  readily  sympathized  with 
Mrs.  Clarkson  in  the  pleasure  with  which  she  expatiated  on  the 
comforts  of  the  situation,  and  in  the  hope  of  their  continued 
residence  there. 

Bern*  — •  To  this  place  Mr.  Clarkson  retired  after  the  great 
work  —  the  only  work  he  projected,  viz.  the  abolition  of  the 

*  Written  in  1851. 


1816.] 


TOUR  TO  THE  LAKES. 


337 


slave-trade  —  was  effected  ;  not  anticipating  that  slavery  itself 
would  be  abolished  by  our  government  in  his  day.  This,  how- 
ever, would  hardly  have  taken  place  had  it  not  been  for  his  ex- 
ertions to  accomplish  the  first  step. 

When  the  present  extent  of  the  evil  is  adverted  to,  as  it  fre- 
quently is,  ungenerously,  in  order  to  lessen  the  merit  of  the 
abolitionists,  it  is  always  forgotten  that  if,  on  the  revival  of 
commerce  after  the  peace  of  1813,  and  the  revival  of  the  spirit 
of  colonization  by  the  European  powers,  the  slave-trade  had 
still  been  the  practice  of  Europe,  it  would  have  increased  ten- 
fold. All  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  every  part  of  the  New 
World,  would  have  been  peopled  by  Africans,  purchased  or  stolen 
by  English,  Dutch,  and  French  traders. 

August  29th.  —  At  half  past  eight  I  mounted  the  Oxford 
stage,  at  the  corner  of  Chancery  Lane,  on  a  tour,  intended  to 
embrace  the  lakes  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland. 

Next  day  I  met  with  two  gentlemen,  with  whose  appearance 
and  manner  I  was  at  once  struck  and  pleased,  and  with  whom 
I  became  almost  immediately  acquainted.  The  name  of  one 
is  Torlonia,  a  young  Italian  (about  twenty),  and  of  the  other 
Mr.  Walter,  his  tutor,  about  twenty-eight. 

September  1st,  —  Strolling  into  the  old  church  *  at  Manches- 
ter, I  heard  a  strange  noise,  which  I  should  elsewhere  have 
mistaken  for  the  bleating  of  lambs.  Going  to  the  spot,  a 
distant  aisle,  I  found  two  rows  of  women  standing  in  files,  each 
with  a  babe  in  her  arms.  The  minister  went  down  the  line, 
sprinkling  each  infant  as  he  went.  I  suppose  the  efficiency  of 
the  sprinkling  —  I  mean  the  fact  that  the  water  did  touch  — 
was  evidenced  by  a  distinct  squeal  from  each.  Words  were 
muttered  by  the  priest  on  his  course,  but  one  prayer  served 
for  all.  This  I  thought  to  be  a  christening  by  wholesale  ;  and 
I  could  not  repress  the  irreverent  thought  that,  being  in  the 
metropolis  of  manufactures,  the  aid  of  steam  or  machinery 
might  be  called  in.  I  was  told  that  on  Sunday  evenings  the 
ceremony  is  repeated.  Necessity  is  the  only  apology  for  so 
irreverent  a  performance  of  a  religious  rite.  How  the  essence  of 
religion  is  sacrificed  to  these  formalities  of  the  Establishment ! 

September  2d. — (At  Preston.)  My  companions  were  glad 
to  look  into  the  Catholic  chapel,  which  is  spacious  and  neat. 
Mr.  Walter  purchased  here  a  pamphlet,  which  afforded  me 
some  amusement.    It  is  a  narrative  extracted  from  Luther's 

*  Then,  I  believe,  the  only  parochial  church  of  the  town,  and  now  raised  to 
the  rank  of  a  cathedral.  —  H.  C.  R. 


VOL.  I. 


15 


V 


338     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


writings,  of  the  dialogue  related  by  Luther  himself  to  have 
been  carried  on  between  him  and  the  Devil,  who,  Luther  de- 
clares, was  the  first  who  pointed  out  to  him  the  absurdity  and 
evil  of  private  mass.  Of  course,  it  is  strongly  pressed  upon 
the  pious  reader  that  even  Luther  himself  confesses  that  the 
Father  of  Lies  was  the  author  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  a  pret- 
ty good  story  is  made  out  for  the  Catholic. 

September  5th.  —  (Ambleside.)  This  was  one  of  the  most 
delightful  days  of  my  journey  ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  describe 
the  gratification  arising  partly  from  the  society  of  most  excel- 
lent persons,  and  partly  from  beautiful  scenery.  Mr.  Walter 
expressed  so  strong  a  desire  to  see  Wordsworth,  that  I  resolved 
to  take  him  with  me  on  a  call.  After  breakfast  we  walked  to 
Eydal,  every  turn  presenting  new  beauty.  The  constantly 
changing  position  of  the  screen  of  hill  produced  a  great  vari- 
ety of  fine  objects,  of  which  the  high  and  narrow  pass  into  Ry- 
dal  Water  is  the  grandest.  In  this  valley,  to  the  right,  stands 
a  spacious  house,  the  seat  of  the  Flemings,  and  near  it,  in  a 
finer  situation,  the  house  of  Wordsworth.  We  met  him  in  the 
road  before  the  house.  His  salutation  was  most  cordial.  Mr. 
Walter's  plans  were  very  soon  overthrown  by  the  conversation 
of  the  poet  in  such  a  spot.  He  at  once  agreed  to  protract  his 
stay  among  the  lakes,  and  to  spend  the  day  at  Grasmere. 
Torlonia  w^as  placed  on  a  pony,  which  was  a  wild  mountaineer, 
and,  though  it  could  not  unhorse  him,  ran  away  with  him 
twice.  From  a  hillock  Wordsworth  pointed  out  several  houses 
in  Grasmere  in  which  he  had  lived.* 

During  the  day  I  took  an  opportunity  of  calling  on  De  Quin- 
cey,  my  Temple  Hall  acquaintance.  He  has  been  very  much 
an  invalid,  and  his  appearance  bespoke  ill  health. 

Our  evening  was  spent  at  Wordsworth's.  Mr.  Tillbrook  of 
Cambridge,  formerly  Thomas  Clarkson's  tutor,!  was  there.  The 
conversation  was  general,  but  highly  interesting.  The  evening 
was  very  fine,  and  we  for  the  first  time  perceived  all  the  beau- 
ties (glories  they  might  be  called)  of  Rydal  Mount.  It  is  so 
situated  as  to  afibrd  from  the  windows  of  both  sitting-rooms  a 
direct  view  of  the  valley,  with  the  head  of  Windermere  at  its 
extremity,  and  from  a  terrace  in  the  garden  a  view  on  to  Ry- 
dal Water,  and  the  winding  of  the  valley  in  that  direction. 
These  views  are  of  a  very  different  character,  and  may  be  re- 
garded as  supplementing  each  other. 

*  The  cottage  at  Townend,  Allan  Bank,  and  the  Parsonage, 
t  Son  of  the  abolitionist. 


1816.] 


WORDSWORTH.  —  SOUTHEY. 


339 


The  house,  too,  is  convenient  and  large  enough  for  a  family 
man.  And  it  was  a  serious  gratificcation  to  behold  so  great  and 
so  good  a  man  as  Wordsworth  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  en- 
joying those  comforts  which  are  apparent  to  the  eye.  He  has 
two  sons  and  a  daughter  surviving.  They  appear  to  be  amia- 
ble children.  And,  adding  to  these  external  blessings  the  mind 
of  the  man,  he  may  justly  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most 
enviable  of  mankind.  The  injustice  of  the  public  towards  him, 
in  regard  to  the  appreciation  of  his  works,  he  is  sensible  of. 
But  he  is  aware  that,  though  the  great  body  of  readers  —  the 
admirers  of  Lord  Byron,  for  instance  —  cannot  and  ought  not 
to  be  his  admirers  too,  still  he  is  not  without  his  fame.  And 
he  has  that  expectation  of  posthumous  renown  which  has 
cheered  many  a  poet,  who  has  had  less  legitimate  claims  to 
it,  and  whose  expectations  have  not  been  disappointed. 

Mr.  Walter  sang  some  Scotch  airs  to  Mr.  Tillbrook's  flute, 
and  we  did  not  leave  Rydal  Mount  till  late.  My  companions 
declare  it  will  be  to  them  a  memorable  evening. 

Just  as  we  were  going  to  bed  De  Quincey  called  on  me.  He 
was  in  much  better  spirits  than  when  I  saw  him  in  the  morn- 
ing and  expressed  a  wish  to  walk  with  me  about  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

September  8tli.  — I  returned  to  Kendal,  partly  to  accommo- 
date my  friends,  who  were  pledged  to  omit  no  opportunity  of 
hearing  Sunday  mass.  I  went  to  the  Catholic  chapel ;  and  as 
I  stood  up  while  others  were  kneeling,  I  found  my  coat  tugged 
at  violently.  This  was  occasioned  by  a  combination  of  Roman 
Catholic  and  Italian  zeal.  The  tug  of  recognition  came  from 
an  Italian  boy,  a  Piedmontese  image-seller,  whom  we  had  met 
with  before  on  the  road,  —  a  spirited  lad,  who  refused  a  shil- 
ling Torlonia  offered  him,  and  said  he  had  saved  enough  by 
selling  images  and  other  Italian  articles  to  buy  himself  land  in 
Savoy.  I  understood  him  to  say  £  80  ;  but  that  is  probably  a 
mistake.    He  had,  however,  been  several  years  in  England. 

September  9th,  —  (Keswick.)  We  were  gratified  by  receiv- 
ing an  invitation  to  take  tea  with  the  Poet  Lam-eate.  This 
was  given  to  our  whole  party,  and  our  dinner  was,  in  conse- 
quence, shortened.  I  had  a  small  room  on  a  second  floor, 
from  the  windows  of  which  I  had  a  glimpse  only  of  the  fine 
mountain  scenery,  and  could  see  a  single  house  only  amid  gar- 
dens out  of  the  town.  The  mountain  was  Skiddaw.  The 
house  was  Southey's. 

The  laureate  lives  in  a  large  house  in  a  nurseryman's 


340     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


grounds.  It  enjoys  a  panoramic  view  of  the  mountains ;  and 
as  Southey  spends  so  much  of  his  time  within  doors,  this  lovely 
and  extensive  view  supplies  the  place  of  travelling  beyond  hi^ 
own  premises. 

We  spent  a  highly  agreeable  evening  w^ith  Southey.  Mr. 
Nash,  Mr.  Westall,  Jun.,  several  ladies,  Miss  Barker,  Mrs, 
Southey,  Mrs.  Coleridge,  and  Mrs.  Lovell,  were  of  the  party. 
The  conversation  was  on  various  subjects.  Southey's  library 
is  richly  stored  with  Spanish  and  Portuguese  books.  These  he 
showed  to  my  Catholic  friends,  withholding  some  which  he 
thought  might  give  them  uneasiness.  Looking  at  his  books, 
he  said,  with  great  feeling,  that  he  sometimes  regarded  them 
with  pain,  thinking  what  might  hereafter  become  of  them,  —  a 
pathetic  allusion  to  the  loss  of  his  son. 

On  Spanish  politics  he  spoke  freely.  At  the  same  time 
that  he  reproached  Ferdinand  with  a  want  of  generosity,  he 
stated  his  conviction  that  he  acted  defensively.  The  liberals 
would  have  dethroned  him  at  once,  had  they  been  permitted 
to  carry  into  effect  the  new  constitution. 

I  found  his  opinions  concerning  the  state  and  prospects  of 
this  country  most  gloomy.  He  considers  the  government 
seriously  endangered  by  the  writings  of  Cobbett,  and  still 
more  by  the  Examiner,  Jacobinism  he  deems  more  an  object 
of  terror  than  at  the  commencement  of  the  French  Eevolu- 
tion,  from  the  difficulties  arising  out  of  the  financial  embar- 
rassments. He  says  that  he  thinks  there  will  be  a  convulsion 
in  three  years  ! 

I  was  more  scandalized  by  his  opinions  concerning  the  press 
than  by  any  other  doctrine.  He  would  have  transportation  the 
punishment  for  a  seditious  libel !  !  !  I  ought  to  add,  however, 
that  I  am  convinced  Southey  is  an  honest  alarmist.  I  did  not 
dispute  any  point  with  him. 

Hartley  Coleridge  is  one  of  the  strangest  boys  I  ever  saw.* 
He  has  the  features  of  a  foreign  Jew,  with  starch  and  affected 
manners.  He  is  a  boy  pedant,  exceedingly  formal,  and,  I 
should  suppose,  clever. 

Coleridge's  daughter  has  a  face  of  great  sweetness,  f 

Derwent  Coleridge  I  saw  at  Wordsworth's.  He  is  a  hearty 
boy,  jvith  a  good-natured  expression.  Of  literature  not  much 
was  said.    Literature  is  now  Southey's  trade  ;  he  is  a  manu- 

*  Hartley  Colerido^e  is  the  author  of  "  Northern  Worthies,"  and  numerous 
beautiful  poems.    His  life  was  written  by  his  brother  Derwent. 

t  Afterwards  Mrs.  Henry  Nelson  Coleridge,  the  editor  of  many  of  her 
father's  works. 


1816.]  WET  WALK  WITH  WORDSWORTH.  341 


facturer,  and  his  workshop  is  his  study,  —  a  very  beautiful  one 
certainly,  but  its  beauty  and  the  delightful  environs,  as  well 
as  his  own  celebrity,  subject  him  to  interruptions.  His  time  is 
his  wealth,  and  I  shall  therefore  scrupulously  abstain  from  steal- 
ing any  portion  of  it. 

Sexjtemher  11th,  —  I  left  Torlonia  and  his  tutor  with  feelings 
almost  of  friendship,  certainly  of  respect  and  regard,  and  I 
look  forward  with  pleasure  to  the  continuance  of  our  acquaint- 
ance. 

Hem.*  —  The  tutor  was  gentlemanly  in  his  manners,  and  as 
liberal  as  a  sincere  Roman  Catholic  could  be.  The  young  man 
was  reserved  and  well-bred,  but  already  an  artificial  charac- 
ter, so  that  I  was  prepared  for  what  I  afterwards  experienced 
from  him.f 

September  10th,  —  After  I  had  taken  a  cold  dinner,  Mr. 
Wordsworth  came  to  me,  and  between  three  and  four  we  set 
out  for  Cockermouth  ;  he  on  horseback,  I  on  foot.  We  started 
in  a  heavy  shower,  which  thoroughly  wetted  me.  The  rain 
continued  with  but  little  intermission  during  a  great  part  of 
the  afternoon,  and  therefore  the  fine  scenery  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  Keswick  was  entirely  lost.  The  road,  too, 
was  so  very  bad,  that  all  my  attention  was  requisite  to  keep 
my  shoes  on  my  feet.  I  have  no  recollection  of  any  village  or 
of  any  scenery,  except  some  pleasing  views  of  the  lake  of  Bas- 
senthwaite,  and  of  Skiddaw,  from  which  we  seemed  to  recede 
so  little,  that  even  when  w^e  were  near  Cockermouth  the  moun- 
tain looked  near  to  us.  In  the  close  and  interesting  conversa- 
tion we  kept  up,  Mr.  Wordsworth  was  not  quite  attentive  to 
the  road,  and  we  lost  our  way.  A  boy,  however,  who  guided 
us  through  some  terribly  dirty  lanes,  put  us  right.  By  this 
time  it  was  become  dark,  and  it  was  late  before  we  reached  the 
Globe  at  Cockermouth. 

If  this  were  the  place,  and  if  my  memory  were  good,  I 
could  enrich  my  journal  by  retailing  Wordsworth's  conversa- 
tion. He  is  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  he  talked  upon  his  own 
art,  and  his  own  works,  very  feelingly  and  very  profoundly ; 
but  I  cannot  venture  to  state  more  than  a  few  intelligible  re- 
sults, for  I  own  that  much  of  what  he  said  was  above  my  com- 
prehension. 

He  stated,  what  I  had  before  taken  for  granted,  that  most 
of  his  lyrical  ballads  were  founded  on  some  incident  he  had 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  See  a  future  chapter  in  reference  to  H.  C.  R.'s  residence  in  Rome. 


342     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


witnessed  or  heard  of.  He  mentioned  the  origin  of  several 
poems. 

Lucy  Gray,"  *  that  tender  and  pathetic  narrative  of  a 
child  mysteriously  lost  on  a  common,  was  occasioned  by  the 
death  of  a  child  who  fell  into  the  lock  of  a  canal.  His  object 
was  to  exhibit  poetically  entire  solitude^  and  he  represents  the 
child  as  observing  the  day-moon,  which  no  town  or  village  girl 
would  even  notice. 

The  Leech-Gatherer"  t  he  did  actually  meet  near  Grasmere, 
except  that  he  gave  to  his  poetic  character  powers  of  mind 
which  his  original  did  not  possess. 

The  fable  of  "  The  Oak  and  the  Broom  "  t  proceeded  from 
his  beholding  a  rose  in  just  such  a  situation  as  he  described  the 
broom  to  be  in.  Perhaps,  however,  all  poets  have  had  their 
works  suggested  in  like  manner.  What  I  wish  I  could  venture 
to  state  after  Wordsworth  is  his  conception  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  mere  fact  is  converted  into  poetry  by  the  power  of 
imagination. 

He  represented,  however,  much  as,  unknown  to  him  the 
German  philosophers  have  done,  that  by  the  imagination  the 
mere  fact  is  exhibited  as  connected  with  that  infinity  without 
which  there  is  no  poetry. 

He  spoke  of  his  tale  of  the  dog,  called  "  Fidelity."  §  He 
says  he  purposely  made  the  narrative  as  prosaic  as  possible,  in 
order  that  no  discredit  might  be  thrown  on  the  truth  of  the 
incident.  In  the  description  at  the  beginning,  and  in  the 
moral  at  the  end,  he  has  alone  indulged  in  a  poetic  vein ;  and 
these  parts,  he  thinks,  he  has  peculiarly  succeeded  in. 

He  quoted  some  of  the  latter  poem,  and  also  from  "  The 
Kitten  and  the  Falling  Leaves,"  ||  to  show  he  had  connected 
even  the  kitten  with  the  great,  awful,  and  mysterious  powers 
of  nature.  But  neither  now,  nor  in  reading  the  Preface  to 
Wordsworth's  new  edition  of  his  poems,  have  I  been  able  to 
comprehend  his  ideas  concerning  poetic  imagination.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  raise  my  mind  to  the  subject,  further  than 
this,  that  imagination  is  the  faculty  by  which  the  poet  con- 
ceives and  produces —  that  is,  images  —  individual  forms,  in 
which  are  embodied  universal  ideas  or  abstractions.  This  I  do 
comprehend,  and  I  find  the  most  beautiful  and  striking  illustra- 
tions of  this  faculty  in  the  works  of  Wordsworth  himself. 

*  Wordsworth's  "  Poetical  Works."  Vol.  I.  p.  156. 

t  "  Resolution  and  Iiidependeiice."  Vol.  II.  p.  124. 

t  Vol.  II.  p.  20.  §  Vol.  IV.  p.  207. 

IJ  Vol.  II.  p.  61. 


1816.] 


A  PROPHET  WITHOUT  HONOR. 


343 


The  incomparable  twelve  lines,  ^'  She  dwelt  among  the  un- 
trodden ways,"  *  ending,  "  The  difference  to  me  !  "  are  finely 
imagined.  They  exhibit  the  powerful  effect  of  the  loss  of  a 
very  obscure  object  upon  one  tenderly  attached  to  it.  The 
opposition  between  the  apparent  strength  of  the  passion  and 
the  insignificance  of  the  object  is  delightfully  conceived,  and  the 
object  itself  well  portrayed. 

September  12th.  —  This  was  a  day  of  rest,  but  of  enjoyment 
also,  though  the  amusement  of  the  day  was  rather  social  than 
arising  from  the  beauties  of  nature. 

I  wrote  some  of  my  journal  in  bed.  After  my  breakfast  I 
accompanied  Mr.  Wordsworth,  Mr.  Hutton,  and  a  Mr.  Smith 
to  look  at  some  fields  belonging  to  the  late  Mr.  Wordsworth,t 
and  which  were  to  be  sold  by  auction  this  evening.  I  may  here 
mention  a  singular  illustration  of  the  maxim,  "  A  prophet  is  not 
without  honor  save  in  his  own  country."  Mr.  Hutton,  a  very 
gentlemanly  and  seemingly  intelligent  man,  asked  me,  "  Is  it 
true,  —  as  I  have  heard  reported,  —  that  Mr.  Wordsworth  ever 
wrote  verses  1 " 

September  ISth.  —  This  morning  I  rose  anxious  to  find  the 
change  of  weather  of  which  yesterday  had  afforded  us  a  reason- 
able hope.  For  a  time  I  was  flattered  by  the  expectation  that 
summer  would  come  at  last,  though  out  of  season ;  but  the 
clouds  soon  collected,  and  the  day,  to  my  great  regret,  though 
still  not  to  the  loss  of  my  spirits  or  temper,  proved  one  of  the 
worst  of  my  journey. 

I  wTote  in  my  journal  till  I  was  called  to  accompany  Words- 
worth and  Mr.  Hutton.  They  were  on  horseback.  The  first 
part  of  our  road,  in  which  one  lofty  and  precipitous  rock  is  a 
noble  object,  lay  to  the  right  of  the  mountains  in  Lorton  Yale, 
which  we  skirted  at  a  distance.  As  we  advanced  the  w^eather 
grew  worse.  We  passed  Lampleugh  Cross,  and  when  we  came 
near  the  vale  of  Ennerdale,  and  were  at  the  spot  where  the  vale 
is  specially  beautiful  and  interesting,  the  mist  was  so  thick  as 
to  obscure  every  object.  Nothing  was  distinguishable.  We 
crossed  the  bridge  at  Ennerdale,  and  there  the  road  led  us  over 
Cold  Fell.  Cold  and  fell  certainly  were  the  day  and  the  scene. 
It  rained  violently,  so  that  it  was  with  difiiculty  I  could  keep 
up  my  umbrella.  The  scene  must  be  wild  at  any  time.  The 
only  object  I  could  discern  was  a  sort  of  naked  glen  on  our 

*  "  Resolution  and  Independence."    Vol.  1.  p.  215. 

t  Wordsworth's  eldest  brother,  Richard,  who  was  Solicitor  to  the  Commis- 
sioners of  his  Majesty's  Woods  and  Forests. 


344    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 

right ;  a  secluded  spot,  rendered  lively,  however,  by  a  few 
farm-houses.  As  we  descended  the  fell  the  weather  cleared  up, 
and  I  could  discern  an  extensive  line  of  the  Irish  Sea.  And  as 
we  approached  Calder  Bridge  we  beheld  the  woods  of  Ponsonby, 
in  which  Calder  Abbey  stands,  together  with  an  interesting 
champaign  scene  of  considerable  extent.  I  ought  not  to  omit 
that  it  was  on  this  very  Cold  Fell  that  Mr.  Wordsworth's  father 
lost  his  way,  and  spent  a  whole  night.  He  was  instantly  taken 
ill,  and  never  rose  again  from  the  attack.  He  died  in  a  few 
weeks. 

The  dreary  walk  had  been  relieved  by  long  and  interesting 
conversations,  sometimes  on  subjects  connected  with  the  busi- 
ness arising  out  of  the  late  Mr.  Wordsworth's  will,  and  some- 
times on  poetry. 

We  had,  too,  at  the  close  of  the  walk,  a  very  great  pleasure. 
We  turned  out  of  the  road  to  look  at  the  ruins  of  Calder  Abbey. 
These  ruins  are  of  small  extent,  but  they  are  very  elegant  in- 
deed. The  remains  of  the  centre  arches  of  the  Abbey  are 
very  perfect.  The  four  grand  arches,  over  which  was  the  lan- 
thorn  of  the  church,  are  entire.  There  are  also  some  pillars, 
those  of  the  north  side  of  the  nave,  and  one  or  two  low  Nor- 
man doors,  of  great  beauty.  We  inserted  our  names  in  a 
book  left  in  a  small  apartment,  where  are  preserved  some  re- 
mains of  sculpture  and  some  Roman  inscriptions. 

At  half  a  mile  distance  is  the  inn  at  Calder  Bridge,  where 
we  dined  and  took  tea.  Wordsworth  was  fatigued,  and  there- 
fore, after  an  hour's  chat,  he  took  the  Quarterly  Review^  and  I 
took  to  my  journal,  which  I  completed  at  twelve  o'clock. 

I  omitted  to  notice  that  I  read  yesterday  Southey's  article 
on  the  Poor,  in  the  last  Quarterly  Review^  a  very  benevolently 
conceived  and  well-written  article,  abounding  in  excellent  ideas, 
and  proving  that,  though  he  may  have  changed  his  opinions 
concerning  governments  and  demagogues,  he  retains  all  his 
original  love  of  mankind,  and  the  same  zeal  to  promote  the 
best  interests  of  humanity. 

September  IJfth.  —  (Ravenglass.)  We  left  our  very  comfort- 
able inn,  the  Fleece  at  Calder  Bridge,  after  breakfast.  The 
day  appeared  to  be  decidedly  bad,  and  I  began  to  despair  of 
enjoying  any  fine  weather  during  my  stay  in  the  country.  As 
I  left  the  village,  I  doubly  regretted  going  from  a  spot  which 
I  could  through  mist  and  rain  discern  to  be  a  delicious  retreat, 
more  resembling  the  lovely  secluded  retirements  I  have  often 
seen  in  Wales,  than  anything  I  have  met  with  on  the  present 


1S16.]         WORDSWOETH  AT  A  CUMBERLAND  AUCTION.  345 


journey.  We  had  but  seven  miles  to  walk.  We  were  now 
near  the  sea,  with  mountains  on  our  left  hand.  We,  however, 
went  to  see  the  grounds  of  an  Admiral  Lutwidge,  at  Holm 
Rook ;  and,  sending  in  a  message  to  the  master  of  the  house, 
he  came  out,  and  dryly  gave  the  gardener  permission  to  ac- 
company us  over  the  garden.  He  eyed  us  closely,  and  his 
manner  seemed  that  of  a  person  who  doubted  whether  we  were 
entitled  to  the  favor  we  asked.  The  grounds  are  pleasingly 
laid  out.  The  Irt  —  to-day  at  least  a  rapid  river  —  runs 
winding  in  a  valley  which  has  been  planted  on  each  side. 
From  the  heights  of  the  grounds  fine  views  may  be  seen  on 
fine  days.  We  went  mto  a  hot-house,  and  after  admiring  the 
rich  clusters  of  grapes,  were  treated  with  a  bunch  of  them. 

Having  ascertained  that  we  could  cross  the  estuary  of  the 
Mite  River,  we  came  to  Ravenglass  by  the  road  next  the  sea, 
and  found  Mr.  Hutton  in  attendance. 

I  was  both  wet  and  dirty,  and  was  glad,  as  yesterday,  to 
throw  myself  between  the  blankets  of  a  bed  and  read  the  Quar- 
terly Revieiv,  A  stranger  joined  us  at  the  dinner-table,  and 
after  dinner  we  took  a  stroll  beyond  the  village.  Near  Raven- 
glass,  the  Esk,  the  Irt,  and  the  Mite  flow  into  the  sea ;  but  the 
village  itself  lies  more  dismally  than  any  place  I  ever  saw  on  a 
sea-shore  ;  though  I  could  hear  the  murmur  of  the  sea,  I  could 
barely  see  it  from  a  distance.  Sand-hills  are  visible  on  each 
side  in  abundance. 

The  place  consists  of  a  wretched  street,  and  it  has  scarcely 
a  decent  house,  so  that  it  has  not  a  single  attraction  or  com- 
fort in  bad  weather.  On  a  clear  day,  I  understand,  there  are 
fine  views  from  the  adjacent  hills. 

The  auction — of  some  pieces  of  land  — did  not  begin  till  we 
had  taken  tea.  This  is  the  custom  in  this  country.  Punch  is 
sent  ajbout  while  the  bidding  is  going  on,  and  it  is  usual  for  a 
man  to  go  from  one  room  to  another,  and  report  the  bidding 
which  is  made  in  the  rooms  where  the  auctioneer  is  not.  While 
I  have  been  writing  this  page,  I  have  continually  heard  the 
voice  of  this  man. 

I  have  also  been  once  down  stairs,  but  the  passage  is  crowded 
by  low  people,  to  whom  an  auction  must  be  an  extraordinary 
and  remarkable  occurrence  in  a  place  so  secluded  and  remote 
as  this,  and  who,  besides,  contrive  to  get  access  to  the  punch- 
bowl. I  have  been  reading  the  article  in  the  Quarterly  Review 
about  Madame  la  Roche  Jacquelein,  by  Southey.  It  is  very 
interesting,  like  the  Edinburgh  review  of  the  same  work,  —  a 
15* 


346     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 

good  epitome  of  the  narrative.  But  though  I  am  removed 
sufficiently  from  the  bustle  of  the  auction  not  to  be  disturbed 
by  it,  yet  the  circumstances  are  not  favorable  to  my  being  ab- 
sorbed by  my  book. 

I  slept  in  a  double-bedded  room  with  Wordsworth.  I  went 
early  to  bed  and  read  till  he  came  up  stairs. 

September  15th.  —  On  Hardknot  Wordsworth  and  I  parted, 
he  to  return  to  Rydal,  and  I  to  Keswick. 

Eem.^  —  Making  Keswick  my  head-quarters,  I  made  excur- 
sions to  Borrowdale,  which  surpasses  any  vale  I  have  seen  in 
the  North,  to  Wastdale,  to  Crummock  Water,  and  to  Butter- 
mere  ;  during  a  part  of  the  time  the  weather  was  favorable. 
At  the  last-named  place,  the  landlady  of  the  little  inn,  the  suc- 
cessor to  Mary  of  But'termere,  is  a  very  sweet  woman,  —  even 
genteel  in  person  and  manners.  The  Southeys  and  Words- 
worths  all  say  that  she  is  far  superior  to  the  celebrated  Mary. 

SejJternher  22cL  —  (Keswick.)  Though  I  felt  unwilhng  to 
quit  this  magnificent  centre  of  attractions,  yet  my  calculations 
last  night  convinced  me  that  I  ought  to  return.  Half  of  my 
time,  and  even  more,  is  spent,  and  almost  half  my  money. 
Everything  combines  to  render  this  the  solstice  of  my  excur- 
sion. 

Having  breakfasted,  I  carried  a  book  to  Southey  and  took 
leave  of  the  ladies.  He  insisted  on  accompanying  me,  at  least 
to  the  point  where  the  Thirlmere  Road,  round  the  western 
side  of  the  lake,  turns  off.  I  enjoyed  the  walk.  He  was  both 
frank  and  cordial.  We  spoke  freely  on  politics.  I  have  no 
doubt  of  the  perfect  purity  and  integrity  of  his  mind.  I  think 
that  he  is  an  alarmist,  though  what  he  fears  is  a  reasonable 
cause  of  alarm,  viz.  a  helium  servile,  stimulated  by  the  press. 
Of  all  calamities  in  a  civilized  state,  none  is  so  horrid  as  a 
conflict  between  the  force  of  the  poor,  combining  together  with 
foresight  and  deliberation,  and  that  of  the  rich,  the  masters, 
the  repositaries  of  whatever  intellectual  stores  the  country 
possesses.  The  people,  Southey  thinks,  have  just  education 
and  knowledge  enough  to  perceive  that  they  are  not  placed  in 
such  a  condition  as  they  ought  to  be  in,  without  the  faculty 
of  discovering  the  remedy  for  the  disease,  or  even  its  cause. 
In  such  a  state,  with  the  habit  of  combination  formed  through 
the  agency  of  benefit  societies,  as  the  system  of  the  Luddites  f 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  Serious  riots  were  caused  in  1812,  1814,  1816,  and  subsequently,  by  lars^e 
parties  ot  men  under  this  title.  Tliey  broke  frames  and  machinery  m  facto- 
ries, besides  committing  other  excesses. 


1816.]  WITH  WORDSWORTH  UP  NAB  SCAR.  347 

shows,  judgments  are  perverted,  and  passions  roused,  by  such 
writers  as  Cobbett  and  Hunt,  and  the  war  is  in  secret  prepar- 
ing. This  seems  to  be  the  idea  uppermost  in  Southey's  mind, 
and  which  has  carried  him  very  honestly  further  than  perhaps 
he  ought  to  be  carried  in  support  of  government.  But  he  is 
still,  and  warmly,  a  friend  to  national  education,  and  to  the 
lower  classes,  and  as  humane  as  ever  he  was.  He  has  con- 
vinced me  of  the  perfect  exemption  of  his  mind  from  all  dis- 
honorable motives,  in  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  his 
practical  politics  and  philosophy. 

We  conversed  also  on  literature,  —  on  Wordsworth  and  his 
own  works.  He  appreciates  Wordsworth  as  he  ought.  Of  his 
own  works  he  thinks  "  Don  Roderick  "  by  far  the  best,  though 
Wordsworth  prefers,  as  I  do,  his  "  Kehama."  Neither  of  us 
spoke  of  his  political  poems. 

September  2J/.th.  —  (Ambleside.)  I  called  on  Wordsworth, 
who  offered  to  accompany  me  up  Nab  Scar,  the  lofty  rocky 
fell  immediately  behind  and  hanging  over  his  house.  The 
ascent  w^as  laborious,  but  the  view"  from  the  summit  was  more 
interesting  than  any  I  had  before  enjoyed  from  a  mountain  on 
this  journey.  I  beheld  Rydal  Water  from  the  brow  of  the 
mountain,  and  afterwards,  under  a  favorable  sun,  though  the 
air  was  far  from  clear,  I  saw  Windemere,  with  little  interrup- 
tion, from  the  foot  to  the  head,  Esthwaite  Lake,  Blelham 
Tarn,  a  part  of  Coniston  Lake,  a  very  extensive  coast  with  the 
estuary  near  Lancaster,  &c.,  &c.  These  pleasing  objects  com- 
pensated for  the  loss  of  the  nobler  views  from  Helvellyn,  which 
I  might  have  had,  had  I  not  engaged  to  dine  with  De  Quincey 
to-day. 

Wordsworth  conducted  me  over  the  fell,  and  left  me,  near 
De  Quincey's  house,  a  little  after  one.  He  was  in  bed,  but 
rose  on  my  arrival.  I  was  gratified  by  the  sight  of  a  large 
collection  of  books,  which  I  lounged  over.  De  Quincey,  about 
two,  set  out  on  a  short  excursion  wdth  me,  which  I  did  not 
so  much  enjoy  as  he  seemed  to  expect.  We  crossed  the  sweet 
vale  of  Grasmere,  and  ascended  the  fell  on  the  opposite  corner 
of  the  valley  to  Easdale  Tarn.  The  charm  of  this  spot  is  the 
solemnity  of  the  seclusion  in  which  it  lies.  There  is  a  semicir- 
cle of  lofty  and  gray  rocks,  which  are  wild  and  rugged,  but 
promote  the  repose  suggested  by  the  motionless  water. 

We  returned  to  dinner  at  half  past  four,  and  in  an  hour 
De  Quincey  accompanied  me  on  the  mountain  road  to  Rydal 
Mount,  and  left  me  at  the  gate  of  Wordsworth's  garden- 
terrace. 


348     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


I  took  tea  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wordsworth,  and  Miss  Hutch- 
inson, and  had  four  hours  of  conversation  as  varied  and  de- 
lightful as  I  ever  enjoyed ;  but  the  detail  ought  not  to  be 
introduced  into  a  narrative  like  this. 

Wordsworth  accompanied  me  on  the  road,  and  I  parted  from 
him  under  the  impressions  of  thankfulness  for  personal  atten- 
tions, in  addition  to  the  high  reverence  I  felt  before  for  his 
character.  I  found  De  Quincey  up,  and  chatted  with  him  till 
past  twelve. 

September  25tli,  —  This  was  a  day  of  unexpected  enjoyment. 
I  lounged  over  books  till  past  ten,  when  De  Qaincey  came 
down  to  breakfast.  It  was  not  till  past  twelve  w^e  commenced 
our  walk,  which  had  been  marked  out  by  Wordsworth.  We 
first  passed  Grasmere  Church,  and  then,  going  along  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  lake,  crossed  by  a  mountain  road  into  the 
vale  of  Great  Langdale.  The  characteristic  repose  of  Gras- 
mere was  fully  enjoyed  by  me. 

My  return  from  the  Lakes  comprehended  a  visit  to  my 
friend  George  Stansfeld,*  then  settled  at  Bradford.  With  him 
I  made  an  excursion  to  Halifax,  where  was  then  living  Dr. 
Thompson,  who,  after  being  an  esteemed  Unitarian  preacher, 
became  a  physician.  An  early  death  deprived  the  world  of  a 
very  valuable  member  of  society,  and  my  friend  Mrs.  William 
Pattisson  of  a  cousin,  of  whom  she  and  her  husband  had  rea- 
son to  be  proud. 

At  Leeds,  I  took  a  bed  at  Mr.  Stansfeld's,  Sen.  I  always 
feel  myself  benefited  by  being  with  the  Stansfeld  family. 
There  is  something  most  gratifying  in  the  sight  of  domestic 
happiness  united  with  moral  worth. 

At  Norwich,  wdiere  I  joined  the  Sessions,  I  heard  the  city 
member,  William  Smith,  address  his  constituents  on  a  petition 
for  parliamentary  reform,  which  he  promised  to  present.  I 
admired  the  tact  with  which  he  gave  the  people  to  understand 
that  little  good  could  be  expected  from  their  doings,  and  yet 
gave  no  offence. 

October  IJfth,  —  To-day  my  journey  ends,  —  a  journey  of 
great  pleasure  \  for  I  had  good  health,  good  spirits,  and  a  will 
determined  to  be  pleased.  I  had  also  the  advantage  of  enjoy- 
ing occasionally  the  very  best  society.  Otherwise  my  tour 
would  have  been  a  sad  one,  having  been  undertaken  in  a  sea- 
son the  worst  which  any  man  recollects,  and  peculiarly  unfa- 
vorable to  the  enjoyment  of  picturesque  scenery. 

*  See  anU,  p.  150. 


1816.] 


LETTER  TO  WORDSWORTH. 


349 


H.  C.  R.  TO  Wordsworth. 

[No  date.] 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  fear  I  must  have  appeared  very  ungrate- 
ful to  you,  and  yet  I  do  not  reproach  myself  for  my  silence  so 
much  as  I  perhaps  ought,  for  I  am  conscious  how  much  you 
and  your  family,  and  everything  connected  with  you,  have 
dwelt  on  my  mind  since  last  September,  and  that  I  have  not 
lost,  and  do  not  fear  to  lose,  the  most  lively  and  gratifying 
recollection  of  your  kindness  and  attentions.  It  is  these 
alone  that  prevent  my  regretting  the  selection  of  such  an  un- 
propitious  summer  for  my  tour.  Did  I  once  see  a  bright  sun 
in  Cumberland  or  Westmoreland  ]    I  very  much  doubt  it. 

At  last,  however,  the  sun,  as  if  to  show  how  much  he  could 
do  without  any  accompaniment  whatever,  made  his  appearance 
in  the  middle  of  a  Lincolnshire  wash,  and  I  actually  walked 
several  days  with  perfect  contentment,  though  I  had  no  other 
object  to  amuse  me.  I  was  supported  by  that  internal  hilar- 
ity which  I  have  more  than  once  found  an  adequate  cause  of 
happiness.  At  some  moments,  I  own,  I  thought  that  there 
was  an  insulting  spirit  in  the  joyous  vivacity  and  freshness 
with  which  some  flat  blotches  of  water,  without  even  a  shore, 
were  curled  by  the  breeze,  and  made  alive  and  gaudy  by  moor- 
fowl,  small  birds,  and  insects,  while  floating  clouds  scattered 
their  shadows  over  the  dullest  of  heaths.  Or  was  all  this  to  ad- 
monish and  comfort  a  humble  Suffolk-man,  and  show  him  how 
high  the  meanest  of  countries  may  be  raised  by  sunshine,  and 
how  low  the  most  glorious  may  be  depressed  by  the  absence 
of  it,  or  the  interference  of  a  mere  vapor  ? 

November  2d.  —  At  ten  o'clock  I  called  on  the  Lambs.  Bur- 
ney  was  there,  and  we  played  a  rubber,  and  afterwards  Tal- 
fourd  stepped  in.    We  had  a  long  chat  together. 

We  talked  of  puns,  wit,  &c.  Lamb  has  no  respect  for  any 
wit  which  turns  on  a  serious  thought.  He  positively  declared 
that  he  thought  his  joke  about  my  "great  first  cause,  least  un- 
derstood," a  bad  one.  On  the  other  hand,  he  said  :  If  you  will 
quote  any  of  my  jokes,  quote  this,  which  is  really  a  good  one. 
Hume  and  his  wife  and  several  of  .their  children  were  with  me. 
Hame  repeated  the  old  saying,  '  One  fool  makes  many.'  *  Ay, 
Mr.  Hume,'  said  I,  pointing  to  the  company,  *  you  have  a  fine 
family.'  "  Neither  Talfourd  nor  I  could  see  the  excellence  of 
this.    However,  he  related  a  piece  of  wit  by  Coleridge  which 


350     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 

we  all  held  to  be  capital.  Lamb  had  written  to  Coleridge  about 
one  of  their  old  Christ's  Hospital  masters,  who  had  been  a 
severe  disciplinarian,  intimating  that  he  lioped  Coleridge  had 
forgiven  all  injuries.  Coleridge  replied  that  he  certainly  had ; 
he  hoped  his  soul  was  in  heaven,  and  that  when  he  went  there 
he  was  borne  by  a  host  of  cherubs,  all  face  and  wing,  and 
without  anything  to  excite  his  whipping  propensities ! 

We  talked  of  Hazlitt's  late  ferocious  attack  on  Coleridge, 
w^hich  Lamb  thought  fair  enough,  between  the  parties  ;  but  he 
was  half  angry  with  Martin  Burney  for  asserting  that  the  praise 
was  greater  than  the  abuse.  Nobody,"  said  Lamb,  "  will  care 
about  or  understand  the  ^taking  up  the  deep  pauses  of  conver- 
sation between  seraphs  and  cardinals,'  but  the  satire  will  be 
universally  felt.  Such  an  article  is  like  saluting  a  man,  ^  Sir, 
you  are  the  greatest  man  I  ever  saw,'  and  then  pulling  him  by 
the  nose." 

Sunday,  2Jfth,  —  I  breakfasted  with  Basil  Montagu.  Ar- 
riving before  he  was  ready  to  receive  me,  he  put  into  my  hands 
a  sermon  by  South,  on  Man  as  the  Image  of  God,  perfect  be- 
fore the  Fall,  —  a  most  eloquent  and  profound  display  of  the 
glories  of  man  in  an  idealized  condition,  with  all  his  faculties 
clarified,  as  it  were,  and  free  from  the  infirmities  of  sense.  It 
is  absurd  to  suppose  this  as  the  actual  condition  of  Adam,  for 
how  could  such  a  being  err  ]  But  as  a  philosophical  and  ideal 
picture  it  is  of  superlative  excellence.  In  treating  of  the  in- 
tellect, I  observed  a  wonderful  similarity  between  South  and 
Kant.  I  must  and  will  read  more  of  this  very  great  and  by 
me  hitherto  unknown  writer. 

I  read  at  Montagu's  Coleridge's  beautiful  Fire,  Famine, 
and  Slaughter,"  written  in  his  Jacobinical  days,  and  now  re- 
printed, to  his  annoyance,  by  Hunt  in  the  Examiner.  Also 
an  article  on  commonplace  critics  by  Hazlitt.  His  definition 
of  good  company  excellent,  —  "  Those  who  live  on  their  own 
estates  and  other  people's  ideas." 

December  1st  —  This  was  a  pleasantly  though  idly  spent 
day.  I  breakfasted  with  Walter  and  Torlonia,  and  then  ac- 
companied them  to  the  Portuguese  Minister's  chapel,  where 
the  restoration  of  the  Braganza  family  to  the  throne  of  Portu- 
gal was  celebrated  by  a  gi-and  performance  of  mass.  I  had  the 
advantage  of  knowing  the  words,  and  they  assisted  my  dull 
sense  in  properly  feeling  the  import  of  the  music,  which  I  un- 
affectedly enjoyed.  Strutt  was  there,  and  declared  it  was  most 
excellent.    "  I  was  like  the  unbeliever,"  said  he,  "  and  ready 


1816.] 


A  TALK  WITH  COLERIDGE. 


351 


to  cry  out,  'Almost  thou  persuadest  me.'"  I  was  myself  par- 
ticularly pleased  with  the  finale  of  the  creed,  —  a  triumphant 
flourish,  as  if  the  believer,  having  declared  his  faith,  went  avray 
rejoicing.  The  transition  and  the  pathetic  movements  in  the 
Te  Deum  are,  from  the  contrast,  very  impressive. 

Cargill  was  telling  me  the  other  day  that  in  a  letter  written 
by  Lord  Byron  to  Hogg,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  in  his  rattling 

way  he  wrote  :     Wordsworth,  stupendous  genius  !    D  d 

fool  1  These  poets  run  about  their  ponds  though  they  can- 
not fish.    I  am  told  there  is  not  one  who  can  angle.    D  d 

fools." 

December  2d.  —  I  dined  at  the  Colliers',  and  afterwards  went  to 
Drury  Lane  with  Naylor,  who  had  procured  orders  and  a  box 
for  us.  We  saw  The  Iron  Chest a  play  of  little  merit,  I 
think.  The  psychological  interest  is  all  the  work  of  Godwin. 
Colman  has  added  nothing  that  is  excellent  to  ^'  Caleb  AVil- 
liams."  The  underplot  is  very  insipid,  and  is  hardly  connected 
with  the  main  incident.  But  the  acting  of  Kean  was  very  fine 
indeed.  He  has  risen  again  in  my  esteem.  His  impassioned 
disclosure  of  the  secret  to  Wilford,  and  his  suppressed  feelings 
during  the  examination  of  Wilford  before  the  magistrates,  were 
most  excellent ;  though  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  acting  of 
affected  sensations,  such  as  constrained  passion  under  the  mask 
of  indifference,  is  an  easy  task.  If  the  poet  has  well  conceived 
the  situation,  the  imagination  of  the  spectator  wonderfully 
helps  the  actor.  I  was  at  a  distance,  and  yet  enjoyed  the  per- 
formance. 

December  21st,  —  Called  on  Coleridge,  and  enjoyed  his  con- 
versation for  an  hour  and  a  half.  He  looked  ill,  and,  indeed, 
Mr.  Oilman  says  he  has  been  very  ill.  Coleridge  has  been  able 
to  work  a  great  deal  of  late,  and  with  success.  The  second 
and  third  Lay  Sermons  and  his  Poems,  and  Memoirs  of  his 
Life,  &c.,  in  two  volumes,  are  to  appear.  These  exertions  have 
been  too  great,  Mr.  Oilman  says. 

Coleridge  talked  easily  and  well,  with  less  than  his  usual 
declamation.  He  explained,  at  our  request,  his  idea  of  fancy, 
styling  it  memory  without  judgment,  and  of  course  not  filling 
that  place  in  a  chart  of  the  mind  which  imagination  holds,  and 
which  in  his  Lay  Sermon  he  has  admirably  described.*  Words- 
worth's obscure  discrimination' between  fancy  and  imagination, 
in  his  last  preface,  is  greatly  illustrated  by  what  Coleridge  has 
here  written.    He  read  us  some  extracts  from  his  new  poems, 

*  H.  C.  R.  had  probably  in  his  mind"  Biographia  Literaria,"  V.  I.  pp.  81, 82. 


352     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  19. 


(fee,  and  spoke  of  lii^  German  reading.    He  praises  Steffens 
and  complains  of  the  Catholicism  of  Schlegel  and  Ti^ck,  &c. 

He  mentioned  Hazlitt's  attack  upon  him  with  greater  mod- 
eration than  I  expected. 

Rem.* — It  was  the  day  after  this  conversation  with  Coleridge, 
that  I  broke  altogether  with  Hazlitt,  in  consequence  of  an  arti- 
cle in  the  Examiner, \  manifestly  written  by  him,  in  which  he 
abused  Wordsworth  for  his  writings  in  favor  of  the  King. 

After  I  had  cut  Hazlitt,  Mary  Lamb  said  to  me  :  "  You  are 
rich  in  friends.    We  cannot  afford  to  cast  off  our  friends  be-  \ 
cause  they  are  not  all  we  wish."    And  I  have  heard  Lamb 
say  :  "  Hazlitt  does  bad  actions  without  being  a  bad  man." 

Rem,  \  —  My  fees  during  the  year  had  risen  from  £  321  155. 
to  £355  19  5. 

At  the  Spring  Assizes  we  had  Baron  Wood,  a  judge  who  was 
remarkable  for  his  popular  feelings.  He  was  praised  by  some 
of  our  Radicals  for  being  always  against  the  Church  and  King. 
In  one  case  he  exhibited  a  very  strong  moral  feeling,  which 
perhaps  betrayed  him  to  an  excess.  He  had  a  very  honorable 
dislike  to  prosecutions  or  actions  on  the  game  laws,  and  this  led 
him  to  make  use  of  a  strong  expedient  to  defeat  two  actions. 
A  and  B  had  gone  out  sporting  together.  The  plaintiff  brought 
two  actions,  and  in  the  action  against  B  called  A  to  prove  the 
sporting  by  B,  and  meant  to  call  B  to  prove  the  case  against 
A.  This  was  apparent,  indeed  avowed.  But  the  Baron  in- 
terposed, when  the  witness  objected  to  answer  a  question  that 
tended  to  convict  himself.  A  squabble  arising  between  the 
counsel,  the  Baron  said  to  the  witness  :  "  I  do  not  ask  you 
whether  you  ever  went  out  sporting  with  the  defendant,  be- 
cause, if  I  did,  you  would  very  properly  refuse  to  answer. 
But  I  ask  you  this  :  Except  at  a  time  when  you  might  have 
been  sporting  with  the  defendant,  did  you  ever  see  him 
sport  1 " 

Certainly  not,  my  lord." 
Of  course  you  did  not." 

Then  the  Baron  laughed  heartily,  and  nonsuited  the  plaintiff. 
No  motion  was  made  to  set  this  nonsuit  aside. 

It  was  at  the  Summer  Circuit  that  Rolfe  made  his  first  ap- 
pearance.    He  had  been  at  the  preceding  Sessions.     I  have  a 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  Tlie  Examiner  of  December  24,  1815,  contains  some  contemptuous  re- 
marks on  Wordsworth's  poetry,,  signed  W. 
X  Written  in  1850. 


1816.] 


ROLFE,  LORD  CRANWORTH. 


353 


pleasure  in  recollecting  that  I  at  once  foresaw  that  he  would 
become  a  distinguished  man.  In  my  Diary  I  wrote  :  Our  new 
junior,  Mr.  Rolfe,  made  his  appearance.  His  manners  are 
genteel ;  his  conversation  easy  and  sensible.  He  is  a  very  ac- 
ceptable companion,  but  I  fear  a  dangerous  rival.''  And  my 
brother  asking  me  who  the  new  man  was,  I  said  :  "I  will  ven- 
ture to  predict  that  you  will  live  to  see  that  young  man  attain 
a  higher  rank  than  any  one  you  ever  saw  upon  the  circuit."  It 
is  true  he  is  not  higher  than  Leblanc,  who  was  also  a  puisne 
judge,  but  Leblanc  was  never  Solicitor-General ;  nor,  prob- 
ably, is  Rolfe  yet  at  the  end  of  his  career.  One  day,  when 
some  one  remarked,  "  Christianity  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  law 
of  the  land,"  Rolfe  said  to  me,  Were  you  ever  employed  to 
draw  an  indictment  against  a  man  for  not  loving  his  neighbor 
as  himself?" 

Rolfe  is,  by  universal  repute,  if  not  the  very  best,  at  least 
one  of  the  best  judges  on  the  Bench.  He  is  one  of  the  few  with 
whom  I  have  kept  up  an  acquaintance.* 

I  was  advised  to  attend  the  Old  Bailey  Sessions,  which  I  did 
several  times  this  year ;  whether  beyond  this  time  or  not  I 
cannot  tell,  but  I  know  that  it  never  produced  me  a  fee.  And 
I  should  say  I  am  glad  it  did  not,  except  that  my  not  being 
employed  shows  that  I  wanted  both  a  certain  kind  of  talent 
and  a  certain  kind  of  reputation.  I  was  once  invited  by  the 
Sheriffs  to  dine  with  the  Lord  Mayor  and  the  Judges.  It  was 
the  practice  to  ask  by  turns  two  or  three  men,  both  at  three 
and  five  o'clock.    I  know  not  whether  this  is  still  done.t 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year  died  Mrs.  Thelwall,  for  whom  I 
felt  a  very  sincere  respect.  She  was  her  husband's  good  angel. 
Before  she  died  he  had  become  acquainted  with  a  Miss  Boyle, 
who  came  to  him  as  a  pupil  to  be  qualified  for  the  stage.  She 
failed  in  that  scheme,  and  ultimately  became  Thelwall's  wife, 
without  any  imputation  on  her  character.  She  is  still  living 
with  her  son,  and  is  a  Roman  Catholic. 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  Baron  Rolfe  has  verified  my  prediction  more  strik- 
ingly by  being  created  a  peer,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Cranworth,  and  appointed  a 
Vice-Chancellor.  Soon  after  his  appointment,  he  called  on  me,  and  I  dined 
with  him.  I  related  to  Lady  Cranworth  the  anecdote  given  above,  of  my  con- 
versation with  my  brother,  with  which  she  was  evidently  pleased.  Lady  Cran- 
worth was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Carr,  Solicitor  to  the  Excise,  whom  I  formerly 
used  to  visit,  and  ought  soon  to  find  some  mention  of  in  my  j'ournals.  Lord 
Cranworth  continues" to  enjoy  universal  respect.  —  H.  C.  R.,  1851. 

Lord  and  Lady  Cranworth  continued  their  friendship  for  H.  C.  R.  until  his 
death.   Lord  Cranworth  was  twice  Lord  Chancellor. 

t  It  is. 

w 


354     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


During  this  year  my  acquaintance  with  Hamond  continued. 
I  now  became  acquainted  with  his  cousin  Miller,  the  clergyman, 
and  I  for  the  first  time  visited  his  friend  Pollock,  now  Lord 
Chief  Baron.  Hamond  went  to  France,  having  declined  an 
ofter  by  Sergeant  Rough,  who  would  have  taken  him  as  his 
private  secretary  to  Demerara.  He  assigned  as  a  reason  that 
he  should  be  forced  to  live  in  the  daily  practice  of  insincerity, 
by  subscribing  himself  the  humble  servant  of  those  towards 
whom  he  felt  no  humility. 


EBRUARY  5tli.  —  I  had  to-day  the  pleasure  of  being 


jn  reminded  of  old  times,  and  of  having  old  enjoyments 
brought  back  to  my  mind.  I  saw  for  the  first  time  Mrs. 
Alsop,  Mrs.  Jordan's  daughter,  the  plainest  woman,  I  should 
think,  who  ever  ventured  on  the  stage.  She,  nevertheless,  de- 
lighted me  by  the  sweet  tones  of  her  voice,  w^hich  frequently 
startled  me  by  their  resemblance  to  her  mother's.  Mrs.  Alsop 
has  the  same,  or  nearly  the  same,  hearty  laugh  as  Mrs.  Jordan, 
and  similar  frolicsome  antics.  The  play  was  a  lively  Spanish 
comedy.  How  I  should  have  enjoyed  her  acting,  if  I  had  not 
recollected  her  mother,  I  cannot  tell. 

Fehruary  8th,  —  On  stepping  to  my  chambers  I  was  sur- 
prised by  finding  there,  handsomely  framed  and  glazed,  prints 
of  Domenichino's  "  St.  John  the  Evangelist,"  *  and  of  the 
^'  Madonna  di  S.  Sisto,"  by  Miiller.  The  latter  engraving  de- 
lighted me  beyond  expression.  As  I  considered  the  original 
painting  the  finest  I  had  ever  seen,  tw^elve  years  ago,  so  I 
deem  the  print  the  very  finest  I  ever  saw. 

Fehruary  11th,  —  I  called  late  on  Aders.  He  informed  me 
that  the  fine  engravings  I  found  at  my  chambers  on  Saturday 
are  a  present  from  Mr.  Aldebert.    The  Madonna  diftuses  a 

*  The  original  picture  of  the  inspired  Evangeh'st  about  to  write,  and  the  eagle 
bringing  him  the  pen,  from  which  Christian  Frederich  Miiller  took  his  engrav- 
ing, was  formerly  at  Stuttgart,  in  the  Frommann  Collection,  and  is  now  the  prop- 
erty of  Prince  Narischkin,  in  St.  Petersburg.  There  is  an  excellent  repetition 
of  this  picture  (formerly  in  the  Orleans  Gallery)  at  Castle  Howard,  belonging 
to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


1817. 


1817.] 


BARON  GRAHAM. 


355 


serenity  and  delight  beyond  any  work  of  art  I  am  acquainted 
with.  I  hope  it  will  be  my  companion  through  life.*  What 
a  companion  for  a  man  in  prison  !  I  read  at  night  a  very 
ill- written  German  book  about  Eaphael  by  one  Braun,t  but 
which  will  nevertheless  assist  me  in  acquiring  the  knowledge 
about  Raphael's  works  in  general  which  I  am  anxious  to 
possess. 

March  11th,  —  (On  Circuit  at  Aylesbury.)  We  dined  with 
Baron  Graham,  and  the  dinner  was  more  agreeable  than  any  I 
ever  had  with  any  judge.  The  Baron  was  very  courteous  and 
chatty.  He  seemed  to  enjoy  talking  about  old  times  when  he 
attended  the  Circuit  as  counsel.  It  was,  he  said,  forty  years 
this  spring  since  he  first  attended  the  Circuit.  "  At  that 
time,"  he  said,  "  there  were  three  old  Sergeants,  Foster, 
AVhitaker,  and  Sayer.  They  did  business  very  ill,  so  that 
Leblanc  and  I  soon  got  into  business,  almost  on  our  first 
coming."  Whitaker,  in  particular,  he  spoke  of  as  a  man  who 
knew  nothing  of  law,  —  merely  loved  his  joke.  Foster  did 
know  law,  but  could  not  speak.  He  spoke  of  Leblanc  in  terms 
of  great  praise.  He  had  the  most  business-like  mind  of  any 
man  he  ever  knew.  He  was  exceedingly  attentive  and  labori- 
ous. He  regularly  analyzed  every  brief  in  the  margin.  He 
had  pursued  the  habit  through  life.  He  talked  a  good  deal 
about  the  late  George  Harding.  He  said  he  came  into  life 
under  auspices  so  favorable,  and  he  possessed  so  great  talent, 
that  with  ordinary  discretion  and  industry  he  might  have  at- 
tained the  highest  honors  of  the  profession.  He  was  an  elo- 
quent speaker  and  a  fine  scholar,  but  a  child  in  legal  knowledge. 
He  would  cram  himself  to  make  a  set  speech,  and  he  would 
succeed,  but  in  a  week's  time  be  unable  to  state  even  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  the  case  turned.  He  was  nephew  to  Lord 
Camden,  then  very  popular,  and  his  uncle  expected  everything 
from  his  nephew.  He  had  therefore  great  business  at  once ; 
but  the  best  clients  soon  left  him.  "  And,"  said  the  Baron, 
"  we  must  draw  a  veil  over  his  latter  years." 

Friday^  IJfth,  —  (At  Bedford.)  Only  one  case  was  interest- 
mg.  It  was  a  Qui  tarn  action  by  Dr.  Free,  rector  of  Sutton, 
against  Sir  Montague  Burgoyne,  Bart.,  the  squire  of  the  parish, 
to  recover  £  20  a  month  for  Sir  Montague's  not  going  to  church. 
This  was  founded  on  one  of  the  ancient  and  forgotten  statutes, 

*  These  engravings  hnng  on  ^Ir.  Robinson's  walls  till  his  death,  and  were 
left  a  legacy  to  a  friend  greatly  attached  to  art. 

t  George  Christian  Braun.  "  Raphael's  "  Leben  und  Wirken."  Wiesbaden, 
8vo.  1815. 


356     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 

unrepealed  in  fact,  hut  rendered  inoperative  by  the  improved 
spirit  of  the  age.  Jameson  prosecuted,  and  he  was  not  suffi- 
ciently master  of  himself  to  give  any  effect  or  spirit  to  his  case. 
In  a  hurried  manner  he  stated  the  law  and  the  facts.  He  proved 
the  defendant's  non-attendance  at  church.  Blosset  made  for 
Sir  Montague  a  good  and  impressive  speech.  Unluckily  he 
had  a  good  case  on  the  facts,  so  that  the  most  interesting  ques- 
tion as  to  the  existence  of  the  act  itself  was  evaded.  He  j)roved 
that  during  many  of  the  months  there  was  no  service  in  the 
church,  it  being  shut  up,  and  that  the  defendant  was  ill 
during  the  rest  of  the  time  ;  so  that  on  the  merits  he  had  a 
verdict. 

Bern* — Baron  Graham  was  fidgety,  and  asked  Sergeant 
Blosset  whether  the  act  was  not  repealed  by  the  Toleration 
Act.  My  client,"  said  the  Sergeant,  "  would  rather  be  con- 
victed than  thought  to  be  a  Dissenter."  t  It  appeared  that, 
to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  the  Bishop's  chaplain  was  in 
court,  with  the  Bishop's  written  declaration  that  the  defendant, 
if  he  had  offended,  was  reconciled  to  the  church.  If  this 
declaration  w^ere  presented,  after  verdict  and  before  judgment, 
no  judgment  could  be  entered  up.  A  few  years  ago.  Sir 
Edward  Ilyan  being  one  of  a  commission  to  report  on  the 
penal  laws  in  matters  of  religion,  I  mentioned  this  case  to  him, 
and  it  is  noticed  in  the  report.  Parson  Free  was,  after  much 
litigation,  and  a  great  expense  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  de- 
prived of  his  living  for  immorality.  His  case  illustrated  the 
fact  that,  while  bishops  have,  perhaps,  too  much  power  over 
curates,  they  have  certainly  too  little  over  the  holders  of 
livings. 

April  5th,  —  (At  Bury. )   A  Mr.  P  ,  a  Methodist  preacher, 

called  to  consult  with  me  on  account  of  an  interruption  which 
took  place  while  preaching  at  Woolpit.  After  this  business 
subject  had  been  discussed,  we  talked  on  religious  matters,  and 

I  questioned  Mr.  P  concerning  the  Arminian  notion  about 

Grace.  I  could  not  quite  comprehend  Pascal's  letters  on  the 
doctrine  of  Grace  sujjisante  and  Grace  efficace.  Nor  did  Mr. 
P  relieve  me  from  the  difficulties  entertained  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  Wesleyan  Methodists,  it  seems,  maintained  that  a 
measure  of  Grace  is  given  to  all  men ;  but  since  all  men  do  not 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  The  Toleration  Act,  1  William  and  Marj-,  Chap.  XVITT.  Sec.  16,  con- 
tinued the  old  penalties  for  non-attendance  at  Divine  Service  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  unless  for  the  sake  of  attending  some  place  of  worship  to  which  that  Act 
gives  toleration. 


1817.] 


SOUTHEY.  —  WAT  TYLER. 


357 


avail  themseives  of  this,  I  inquired  why  not.  Mr.  P  an- 
swered they  were  not  disposed.  On  my  asking  what  gave  the 
disposition,  he  repHed  :  "  God's  influence."  —  "  That,  then," 
said  I,  "  must  be  Grace."  —  "  Certainly."  —  "  Then  it  seems 
God  gives  a  measure  of  grace  to  all  men,  and  to  some  an  addi- 
tional portion,  without  which  the  common  measure  is  of  no 
use  !  "  He  could  not  parry  the  blow.  This  common  measure 
is  a  subterfuge,  to  escape  the  obvious  objections  to  the  Calvin- 
istic  notion  of  election  and  reprobation,  but  nothing  is  gained 
by  it.    The  difficulty  is  shoved  off,  not  removed. 

April  lOtlu  —  (Witham.)  I  spent  the  forenoon  with  Mrs. 
Pattisson,  reading  to  her  Pope's  Ethical  Epistles,"  which 
were  new  to  her,  and  which  she  enjoyed  exceedingly.  We  had 
much  to  talk  about  besides.  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  had  given 
great  delight  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pattisson,  by  informing  them 
that  the  picture  of  the  boys  was  at  length  gone,  after  a  delay 
of  six  years,  to  the  exhibition.* 

May  2d.  —  I  went  in  the  forenoon  into  B.  R.,t  Westminster. 
After  my  return  I  had  a  call  from  Robert  Southey,  the  Laure- 
ate. I  had  a  pleasant  chat  and  a  short  walk  with  him.  He 
spoke  gayly  of  his  "  Wat  Tyler."  He  understood  thirty-six  thou- 
sand copies  had  been  printed.  %  He  was  not  aware  how  popvdar 
he  was  when  he  came  to  town.  He  did  not  appear  to  feel  any 
shame  or  regret  at  having  written  the  piece  at  so  early  an  age 
as  twenty.  He  wrote  the  drama  in  three  mornings,  anno  1794. 
We  spoke  of  his  letter  to  W.  Smith,  §  of  which  I  thought  and 
spoke  favorably.  I  did  not  blame  Southey,  but  commended 
him,  for  asserting  the  right  of  all  men,  who  are  wiser  at  forty 
than  at  twenty  years  of  age,  to  act  on  such  superiority  of 
wisdom.  I  only  wish,"  I  added,  "  that  you  had  not  appeared 
to  have  forgotten  some  political  truths  you  had  been  early  im- 
pressed with.  Had  you  said  :  ^  It  is  the  people  who  want 
reform  as  well  as  the  government,'  instead  of  '  not  the  gov- 
ernment,' I  should  have  been  content."    Southey  answered : 

I  spoke  of  the  present  time  only.  I  am  still  a  friend  to  Re- 
form." 

*  See  ante,  p.  220.  t  King's  Bench. 

X  The  orighial  edition  was  published  in  1794.  The  edition  referred  to  is 
doubtless  the  one  published  by  Sherwood,  in  1817,  with  a  preface  suitable  to 
recent  circumstances."  Against  this  edition  Southey  applied  for  an  injunction, 
but  Lord  Eldon  refused  to  grant  it.  the  tendency  of  the  work  being  mischiev- 
ous.—  Lowndes's  "Bibliographer's  Manual.'' 

§  This  letter  was  a  reply  to  remarks  by  W.  Smith,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  "Wat  Tyler,"  and  is  intended  as  "a  vindication  of  the  author's  right  to 
change  his  opinions. 


358     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


May  8th,  —  I  went  into  the  King's  Bench.  There  I  heard 
the  news  which  had  set  all  Westminster  Hall  in  motion.  Gif- 
ford  has  been  appointed  Solicitor-General.*  Gilford's  father 
was  a  Presbyterian  grocer  at  Exeter.  He  was  himself  articled 
to  an  attorney,  and  was  never  at  a  university.  He  was  formerly 
a  warm  Burdettite !  On  the  other  hand,  I  believe  he  has  long 
abandoned  the  conventicle,  and  has  been  quiet  on  political  sub- 
jects, if  he  has  not  changed  his  opinions.  He  is  patronized  by 
Gibbs.    Both  are  natives  of  Exeter. 

My  only  concern  is  that  a  man  hitherto  universally  beloved 
should  thus  early  in  life  be  in  danger  of  making  bankrupt  of 
his  conscience,  which  Lord  Bacon  says  has  been  the  fate  of  so 
many  who  have  accepted  the  offices  of  Attorney-General  and 
Solicitor-General. 

May  17 til.  —  Another  uncomfortable  forenoon.  It  was  ren- 
dered interesting  by  the  arraignment  of  Watson  and  three 
other  men  brought  up  to  plead  to  a  charge  of  high  treason  for 
the  Spa  Fields  Riots,  f  Watson  has  a  face  much  resembling 
Sergeant  Copley's  in  profile.  The  other  three  men,  Preston, 
Hooper,  and  Thistlethwaite,  had  countenances  of  an  ordinary 
stamp.  All  of  them,  on  being  arraigned,  spoke  like  men  of 
firmness  and  with  the  air  of  public  orators,  —  a  sort  of  forum- 
izing  tone  and  manner.  I  was  made  melancholy  by  the  sight 
of  so  many  persons  doomed  probably  to  a  violent  death  within 
a  few  weeks.  They  did  not  require  counsel  to  be  assigned  them 
in  court.  Watson  inquired  whether  they  might  speak  for  them- 
selves if  they  had  counsel.  Lord  Ellen  borough  answered  : 
"  You  are  not  deprived  of  the  power  of  addressing  the  court  by 
having  counsel  assigned  you,"  —  rather  an  ambiguous  answer. 
On  entering  the  court,  the  prisoners,  who  had  been  separated 
for  some  time,  shook  hands  with  each  other  in  an  affecting  man- 
ner, their  hands  being  below  the  bar,  and  they  seemed  to  do  it 
as  by  stealth.    All  bat  Preston  seemed  unconcerned. 

There  was  a  comic  scene  also  exhibited.  One  Hone,  J  of 
Fleet  Street,  was  brought  up  at  his  own  suggestion.  He 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Gifford,  and  Master  of  the  Rolls. 

t  111  1816  meetings  were  held  hi  Spa  Fields  to  petition  the  Prince  in  behalf 
of  the  distressed  manufacturing  classes.  The  first  meeting  was  held  on  the  15th 
November:  thirty  thousand  persons  were  said  to  be  present.  After  the  second 
meeting,  held  December  2d,  what  was  called  the  Spa  Fields  riot  took  place; 
gunsmiths'  shops  were  broken  into  to  procure  arms.  In  one  of  the  shops,  a  Mr. 
Piatt  was  seriously  wounded.  The  riot  was  quelled  by  the  military,  but  not 
before  considerable  damage  had  been  done. 

X  The  bookseller,  whose  trial  by  Lord  EUenborough  will  be  referred  to  here- 
after. 


1817.]  MRS.  BARBAULD.  —  THELWALL  MARRIED.  359 

moved  to  be  discharged  on  the  ground  of  ill-treatment  on  his 
arrest.  One  ground  of  his  motion  was,  that  on  the  commit- 
ment it  was  said  he  had  prayed  an  imparlance  to  next  Term  to 
plead.  He  put  in  an  affidavit  that  he  had  done  no  such  thing. 
Lord  Ellenborough  said  that  his  refusal  to  plead  was  a  construc- 
tive demand  of  time.  He  was  again  asked  whether  he  would 
plead,  and  refused.  He  w^as  remanded.  Shepherd  appeared 
for  the  first  time  as  Attorney-General  on  this  occasion. 

3fay  19th.  —  I  devoted  the  forenoon  to  the  Nashes.  It  being 
the  last  day  of  Term,  I  felt  no  obligation  to  attend  in  court.  I 
went  into  the  British  Museum.  For  the  first  time  T  saw  there 
the  Elgin  Marbles.  Mr.  Nash,  with  his  characteristic  simpli- 
city, exclaimed,  "  I  would  as  soon  go  into  a  church  pit ! "  Indeed, 
how  few  are  there  who  ought  not  to  say  so,  if  men  ought  on 
such  subjects  to  avow  their  want  of  feeling  !  It*  requires  science 
and  a  habit  of  attention  to  subdue  the  first  impression  produced 
by  the  battered  and  mutilated  condition  in  which  most  of  these 
celebrated  fragments  remain.  Of  the  workmanship  I  can  under- 
stand nothing.  The  sentiment  produced  by  the  sight  of  such 
posthumous  discoveries  is,  however,  very  gratifying. 

May  26th.  — After  dining  at  the  Colliers'  I  walked  to  Newing- 
ton,  and  took  tea  with  Mrs.  Barbauld.  I  found  that  Dr.  Aikin 
had  been  very  seriously  ill.  Mrs.  Barbauld  herself  retains  her 
health  and  faculties,  and  is  an  interesting  instance  of  a  re- 
spected and  happy  old  age.  I  played  chess  with  her,  and  then 
went  to  Becher  late. 

Tuesday,  27th.  —  I  spent  the  forenoon  at  home,  and  I  made 
one  or  two  calls.  On  Thelw^all ;  for,  though  I  could  not  cor- 
dially congratulate  him  on  a  marriage  to  a  girl  scarcely  twenty 
(he  being  perhaps  sixty),  yet  I  thought  I  might,  without  im- 
propriety, do  an  act  of  courtesy.  I  found  him  well,  his  bride 
but  poorly.  She  looked  more  interesting  as  an  invalid  ;  and  as 
her  manners  were  retiring  she  pleased  me  better  than  when  I 
saw  her  as  Miss  Boyle,  —  a  candidate  for  the  stage. 

June  9th.  —  The  high-treason  trials  of  Watson  and  others, 
for  the  Spa  Fields  transactions,  began  to-day. 

11th.  —  To-day  Castle,  the  government  informer,  was  ex- 
amined seven  and  a  half  hours  by  Gurney. 

12th,  —  This  day  I  was  again  in  court  from  past  eight  till 
near  seven,  excepting  dinner-time.  The  principal  interest  to- 
day arose  from  the  cross-examination  of  Castle  by  Wetherell,* 
from  which  it  resulted  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  uttering 


*  Afterwards  Sir  Charles  Wetlierell,  Attorney-General. 


360     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  OR  ABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


forged  notes,  and  had,  as  King's  evidence,  hanged  one  accom- 
pHce  and  transported  another,  though  the  latter  pleaded  guilty. 
He  had  been  concerned  in  setting  at  liberty  some  French  offi- 
cers, to  which  business  he  was  recommended  by  a  person  he  had 
visited  in  Tothill  Fields  Prison,  and  who  has  since  been  hanged. 
There  were  other  things  against  him.  So  absolutely  infamous 
a  witness  I  never  heard  of  It  appeared,  too,  from  his  own 
statement,  that  he  was  the  principal  actor  in  this  business 
throughout.  He  was  the  plotter  and  contriver  of  most  of  the 
overt  acts,  and  the  whole  conspiracy  was  his.  It  also  appeared 
that  he  was  furnished  with  pocket-money  by  Mr.  Stafford,  the 
Bow  Street  office  clerk ;  and  Mr.  Stafford  also  gave  him  money 
to  send  away  his  wife,  who  might  have  been  a  w^itness  to  con- 
firm his  testimony.  This  latter  disgraceful  fact,  I  have  no 
doubt,  weighed  ^greatly  with  the  jury. 

June  ISth.  —  This  day,  like  the  preceding,  I  passed  in 
court,  from  a  little  after  eight  till  near  six ;  and  I  could  get 
no  dinner,  as  Wetherell  was  speaking  for  the  prisoner  Watson. 
Wetherell's  speech  was  vehement  and  irregular,  and  very  un- 
equal, with  occasional  bursts  of  eloquence  that  produced  a 
great  effect.  But  the  reasoning  was  very  loose  ;  he  rambled 
sadly,  and  his  boldness  wanted  discretion  and  propriety.  He 
kept  on  his  legs  five  hours  and  a  half ;  but  my  attention  could 
not  follow  him  throughout,  and  the  latter  half-hour  I  w^as 
away,  for  an  interesting  engagement  forced  me  to  leave  the 
court  before  six  o'clock. 

I  dined  at  Mr.  Green's,  No.  22  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.*  Cole- 
ridge and  Ludwig  Tieck  were  of  the  party.  It  was  an  afternoon 
and  evening  of  very  high  pleasure  indeed. 

Ludwig  Tieck  has  not  a  prepossessing  exterior.  He  has 
a  shrewd  clever  face,  but  I  should  rather  have  thought  him 
an  able  man  of  the  world  than  a  romantic  poet.  He  was  not 
the  greatest  talker  to-day  ;  indeed,  the  course  of  the  conver- 
sation led  others  to  give  him  information,  but  what  he  did 
say  was  sensible  and  judicious.     Coleridge  was  not  in  his 

*  Joseph  Henry  Green,  the  eminent  surgeon.  He  was  the  intimate  friend  of 
Coleridge.  In  1818  he  became  associated  with  Sir  Astley  Cooper  as  Lecturer 
at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital,  and  was  for  many  years  Professor  and  Lecturer  on 
Anatomy  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts,  both  at  Somerset  House  and  in 
Trafalgar  Square.  In  1840  and  1*847  he  delivered  the  Hunterian  oration.  His 
portrait  hung  over  the  chimney-piece  in  Coleridge's  bedroom  at  Highgate,  and 
I  remember  seeing  it  there  when  I  went  with  my  father  to  see  the  room  after 
Coleridge's  death.  My  father  made  an  elaborate  drawing  of  the  room,  which 
was  afterwards  lithographed.  J.  H.  Green  died  1863,  December  13,  aged  71, 
at  Hadiey,  near  Barnet.  —  G.  S. 


1817.] 


TEEASON  TRIALS. 


361 


element.  His  German  was  not  good,  and  his  English  was 
not  free.  He  feared  he  should  not  be  understood  if  he 
talked  his  best.    His  eloquence  was,  therefore,  constrained. 

Tieck's  journey  to  England  is  undertaken  with  a  view  to 
the  study  of  our  old  English  dramatists,  contemporaries  of 
Shakespeare.*  He  incidentally  gave  opinions  of  our  elder 
poets  more  favorable  than  I  expected.  He  estimates  them 
highly,  as  it  seems. 

June  IJfth,  —  After  a  fortnight's  delay,  I  shall  be  able  to 
say  but  little  of  these  days,  though  they  were  in  part  highly 
interesting.  To-day  I  spent  almost  entirely  in  court.  It  was 
the  most  interesting  day  of  Watson's  trial.  I  heard  Copley's 
and  GifFord's  speeches.  Copley  spoke  with  great  effect,  but 
with  very  little  eloquence.  He  spoke  for  about  two  and  a 
half  hours,  and  sat  down  with  universal  approbation.  He 
said  nothing  that  was  not  to  the  purpose.  There  were  no  idle 
or  superfluous  passages  in  his  speech.  He  dwelt  little  on  the 
law,  and  that  was  not  very  good ;  but  his  analysis  of  the  evi- 
dence of  Castle  against  Watson  was  quite  masterly. 

The  young  Solicitor-General  followed  him.  Opinions  were 
divided  about  him.  I  believe  envy  at  his  recent  appointment 
contributed  to  the  unfavorable  judgments  of  some  men.  He 
certainly  began  too  verbosely,  and  dwelt  injudiciously  on  un- 
important points,  but  I  thought  him  very  acute  and  able  in  * 
the  latter  part  of  his  speech.  Yet  both  Gifford  and  Copley 
had  less  eloquence  than  Wetherell  in  the  better  parts  of  his 
speech. 

June  16th,  —  I  allowed  myself  some  relief  from  the  trial 
this  morning.  I  attended,  at  the  auction  mart,  the  sale  of 
chambers  No.  5  King's  Bench  Walk,  first  floor,  for  a  life  and 
assignment.  They  sold  for  1,355  guineas,  and  it  would  have 
cost  me,  to  substitute  my  life  for  that  of  the  present  cestui  que 
vie^  more  than  £  100  more  ;  so  that  I  declined  bidding,  though 
the  chambers  are  so  good,  and  mine  are  so  bad,  that  I  felt 
great  reluctanae  at  the  inability  to  purchase. 

When  I  went  down  to  Westminster  Hall,  the  jury  were  out 

*  Before  this  visit  to  England,  Tieck  had  written  "  Briefen  iiber  Shake- 
speare" (Letters  about  Shakespeare),  in  the  "  Poetisches  Journal,"  1800,  and 
various  articles  about  him  in  the  "  Altenglisclies  Theatre,"  1811  (Old-English 
Theatre).  After  the  visit  he  published  the  following  works :  "Shakespeare's 
Vorschule  "  (Shakespeare's  Predecessors),  1823-29;  notices  of  Shakespeare,  in 
his  "  Dramatische  Blatter"  (Dramatic  Leaves),  1828;  a  novel  called  "  Dichter- 
leben  "  (The  Life  of  a  Poet),  in  which  Shakespeare  is  introduced;  a  treatise  on 
Shakespeare's  sonnets,  1826;  and,  in  company  with  A.  W.  Schlegel,  the  famous 
German  translation  of  Shakespeare,  1825-29. 
VOL.  I.  16 


362     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 

of  court  deliberating  on  their  verdict.  The  second  time  I 
went  with  the  Naylors.  We  met  many  people  in  St.  Martin's 
Lane.  Their  silence  led  me  to  augur  ill  till  a  drunken  fellow 
shouted  out,  "  England's  glory  forever  !  "  We  soon  ascer- 
tained the  fact  that  an  acquittal  had  taken  place.  There  were 
crowds  in  the  street,  but  quite  peaceable.  At  Westminster 
Hall,  I  saw  old  Combe,  Barnes,  &c.  Every  one  was  pleased, 
apparently.  I  afterwards  met  the  mob  round  a  hackney-coach 
in  which  Watson  was.  I  called  on  Walter  and  on  Collier,  and 
I  played  chess  late. 

June  18th,  —  I  went  to  the  King's  Bench.  The  three  other 
indicted  men  were  brought  up  and  acquitted,  no  evidence  being 
given  against  them.  I  came  away  early,  and  then  went  into 
the  Middle  Temple  Garden  to  see  the  Waterloo  Bridge  proces- 
sion.* The  sight  was  interesting.  Vast  crowds  were  visible 
on  the  bridge  and  near  it,  on  the  Surrey  shore.  Flags  were 
hoisted  over  very  pier,  and  guns  discharged  on  the  approach  of 
the  royal  barges.  Several  of  these  barges,  with  a  number  of 
boats  forming  no  part  of  the  ceremony,  and  yet  giving  it  in- 
terest, were  on  the  Thames.  These  royal  barges  were  rowed 
round  a  frigate's  boat,  on  which  were  flags  and  music.  The 
great  personages  present,  the  Prince,  Duke  of  Wellington,  &c., 
ascended  the  bridge  on  the  Surrey  side,  and  crossed  over ;  but 
this  we  could  not  see. 

I  spent  the  evening  in  writing  a  dull  review  of  Coleridge's 
second  Lay  Sermon  for  the  Critical  Review,'\ 

Coleridge  to  H.  C.  R. 

June,  1817. 

My  dear  Robinson,  —  I  shall  never  forgive  you  if  you  do 
not  try  to  make  some  arrangement  to  bring  Mr.  L.  Tieck  and 
yourself  up  to  Highgate  very  soon.  The  day,  the  dinner-hour, 
you  may  appoint  yourself ;  but  what  I  most  wish  would  be, 
either  that  Mr.  Tieck  would  come  in  the  first  stage,  so  as 
either  to  walk  or  to  be  driven  in  Mr.  Oilman's  gig  to  Caen 
Wood,  and  its  delicious  groves  and  alleys  (the  finest  in  England, 
a  grand  cathedral  aisle  of  giant  lime-trees,  Pope's  favorite  com- 
position walk  when  with  the  old  Earl,  a  brother  rogue  of  yours 
in  the  law  line),  or  else  to  come  up  to  dinner,  sleep  here,  and  re- 
turn (if  then  return  he  must)  in  the  afternoon  four-o'clock  stage 
the  day  after.    I  should  be  most  happy  to  make  him  and  that 

*  Constable  chose  this  subject  for  a  picture,  which  was  engraved, 
t  The  Critical  Revieio,  June,  1817,  p.  581. 


1817.]  COLEEIDGE  ON  SOUTHEY  AND  MOORE.  363 

admirable  man,  Mr.  Frere,  acquainted,  their  pursuits  have  been 
so  similar  ;  and  to  convince  Mr.  Tieck  that  he  is  the  man 
among  us  in  whom  Taste  at  its  maximum  has  vitalized  itself 
into  productit^e  power,  —  Genius,  you  need  only  show  him  the 
incomparable  translation  annexed  to  Southey's  "  Cid  "  (which, 
by  the  by,  would  perhaps  give  Mr.  Tieck  the  most  favorable 
impression  of  Southey's  own  power) ;  and  I  would  finish  the 
work  off  by  Mr.  Frere's  "  Aristophanes."  In  such  goodness, 
too,  as  both  my  Mr.  Frere  (the  Right  Hon.  J.  H.  Frere),  and 
his  brother  George  (the  lawyer  in  Brunswick  Square),  live, 

move,  and  have  their  being  in,  there  is  Genius  

I  have  read  two  pages  of  "  Lalla  Rookh,"  or  whatever  it  is 
called.  Merciful  Heaven  !  I  dare  read  no  more,  that  I  may 
be  able  to  answer  at  once  to  any  questions,  ^'I  have  but  just 
looked  at  the  work."  0  Robinson!  if  I  could,  or  if  I  dared, 
act  and  feel  as  Moore  and  his  set  do,  what  havoc  could  I  not 
make  amongst  their  crockery -ware  !  Why,  there  are  not  three 
lines  together  without  some  adulteration  of  common  English, 
and  the  ever-recurring  blunder  of  using  the  possessive  case, 
compassion'' s  tears,"  &c.,  for  the  preposition  "of,"  —  a  blun- 
der of  which  I  have  found  no  instances  earlier  than  Dryden's 
slovenly  verses  written  for  the  trade.  The  rule  is,  that  the 
case  '5  is  always  personal ;  either  it  marks  a  person,  or  a  per- 
sonification, or  the  relique  of  some  proverbial  personification, 
as,  "  Who  for  their  belly's  sake,"  in  "  Lycidas."  But  for  A  to 
weep  the  tears  of  B  puts  me  in  mind  of  the  exquisite  passage 
in  "  Rabelais  "  where  Pantagruel  gives  the  page  his  cup,  and 
begs  him  to  go  down  into  the  court-yard,  and  curse  and  swear 
for  him  about  half  an  hour  or  so. 

God  bless  you  ! 

S.  T.  Coleridge. 

Sunday  Morning,  Highgate. 

June  22d.  —  I  sat  at  home  all  the  forenoon,  in  the  expecta- 
tion of  a  call  from  Tieck.  He  did  not  come,  so  that  between 
one  and  two  I  walked  to  Dalston.  The  day  was  not  so  oppres- 
sively hot  as  it  was  yesterday,  though  still  the  heat  was  very 
unusual.  After  dinner  I  read  Lord  Byron's  Manfred "  to 
Mrs.  Becher  and  Miss  Lewis.  I  had  occupied  myself  during 
the  forenoon  in  writing  a  critique  on  this  painful  poem,  which 
nevertheless  has  passages  of  great  beauty.  The  ladies  would 
have  been  greatly  delighted  with  it,  I  dare  say,  if  I  had  en- 
couraged their  admiration. 


364     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  2r> 

June  24th. — This  was  a  highly  interesting  dg,y,  of  which 
however,  I  have  not  recollected  enough  to  render  this  note  of 
any  interest.  I  accompanied  Ludwig  Tieck  and  Mr.  Green  in 
the  stage  to  Kentish  Town,  whence  we  walked*  to  Highgate, 
where  we  found  Coleridge  expecting  us.  Mr.  Gilman  joined 
our  party,  and  the  forenoon  till  four  was  spent  very  agreeably 
indeed.  We  chatted  miscellaneously.  Coleridge  read  some 
of  his  own  poems,  and  he  and  Tieck  philosophized.  Coleridge 
talked  most.  Tieck  is  a  good  listener,  and  is  an  unobtrusive 
man.  He  cannot  but  know  his  own  worth  and  excellence,  but  he 
has  no  anxiety  to  make  himself  and  his  own  works  the  subject 
of  conversation.  He  is  by  no  means  a  zealous  Roman  Catho- 
lic. On  the  contrary,  he  says,  "  With  intolerant  persons  of 
either  party,  I  take  the  opposite  side."  I  ventured  to  suggest 
the  incompatibility  of  the  Catholic  religion  with  any  great  im- 
provement. He  said  it  was  difficult  to  decide  on  questions  of 
national  character.  Without  the  Catholic  religion  the  people 
in  Catholic  countries  would  be  worse.  He  thought  the  Span- 
iards owed  their  deliverance  from  the  French  to  their  religion. 
At  the  same  time  he  admitted  that  England  owes  all  her  great- 
ness and  excellence  to  the  Reformation  ;  and  the  existence  of 
the  Catholic  system  as  such  requires  the  existence  of  Protest- 
antism.   This  is  a  very  harmless  Catholicism. 

He  spoke  with  great  love  of  Goethe,  yet  censured  the  impi- 
ous Prologue  to  "  Faust,"  and  wishes  an  English  translation 
might  be  made  from  the  earlier  edition  written  in  Goethe's 
youth.  He  does  not  speak  kindly  of  Yoss.  Of  the  Schlegels 
he  did  not  say  much.  He  does  not  like  Flaxman's  Lord  Mans- 
field, but  appears  to  entertain  a  high  opinion  of  him  still.  (By 
the  by,  sitting  near  Sam  Rogers  on  Talma's  night  at  the  Opera 
House,  and  mentioning  Flaxman,  Rogers  said  that  Canova 
seemed  not  very  willing  to  praise  Flaxman,  saying  his  designs 
were  "pretty  inventions."  "  Invention,"  said  Rogers,  "  is  pre- 
cisely what  Canova  wants.") 

Coleridge  related  anecdotes  of  himself  in  Germany  very 
pleasantly  indeed. 

June  26th,  This  was  another  idle  day.  I  called  on  Tieck, 
and  chatted  with  him  about  his  tour  in  England,  and  went  to  the 
Westminster  Library  for  books  to  assist  him  in  travelling.  I 
also  conversed  with  Baron  Burgsdorf,  a  sensible  man,  who  is 
anxious  to  obtain  information  about  our  English  courts  of  jus- 
tice. I  dined  in  the  Hall,  and  after  dinner  Talfourd  chatted 
with  me.    I  took  a  hasty  cup  of  tea  at  the  Colliers',  and  at 


1817.] 


TALMA.  —  MADEMOISELLE  GEORGES. 


365 


nine  I  went  to  the  Opera  House  Concert  Room,  and  heard 
Talma  and  Mdlle.  Georges  recite.  I  grudged  a  guinea  for 
payment,  but  I  do  not  regret  having  gone. 

Talma  performed  a  scene  out  of  La  Harpe's  "  Philoctete," 
and  out  of  "  Iphigenia  in  Tauris."  His  first  appearance  disap- 
pointed me.  He  has  little  gray  eyes,  too  near  each  other,  and, 
though  a  regular  and  good  face,  not  a  very  striking  one.  His 
voice  is  good,  but  not  peculiarly  sweet.  His  excellence  lies  in 
the  imitation  of  intense  suffering.  He  filled  me  with  horror, 
certainly,  as  Philoctete,  but  it  was  mingled  with  disgust.  Bod- 
ily pain  is  no  fit  or  legitimate  subject  for  the  drama  ;  and  too 
often  he  was  merely  a  man  suffering  from  a  sore  leg.  Of  his 
declamation  I  do  not  presume  to  judge.  The  character  of 
Orestes  affords  finer  opportunities  of  display.  The  terror  he 
feels  when  pursued  by  the  Furies  was  powerfully  communi- 
cated, and  his  tenderness  towards  Pylades  on  parting  was  also 
exquisite.  Mdlle.  Georges  had  more  to  do,  but  she  gave  me 
far  less  pleasure.  Her  acting  I  thought  radically  bad.  In- 
stead of  copying  nature  in  the  expression  of  passion,  according 
to  which  the  master  feeling  predominates  over  all  the  others, 
she  merely  minces  the  words.  If  in  the  same  line  the  words 
crainte  and  joie  occur,  she  apes  fear  and  joy  by  outrageous 
pantomime  j  and  in  the  suddenness  of  the  transition  forces  ap- 
plause from  those  who  are  glad  to  understand  something,  and 
gratefully  applaud  what  has  enabled  them  to  understand. 
Her  acting  appeared  to  me  utterly  without  feeling.  She 
pleased  me  best  in  "  Athalie,"  —  the  scene  where -she  recounts 
the  dream  and  first  appearance  of  Joad.  Her  imprecations 
against  Horace  for  slaying  her  lover  were,  I  thought,  violent 
without  being  sincere  ;  and  her  performance  of  the  sleep-walk- 
ing scene  in  "  Macbeth  "  was  very  poor.  In  the  French  play, 
Macbeth  keeps  in  confinement  a  son  of  Duncan,  and  Lady 
Macbeth  is  contemplating  his  murder  as  well  as  the  former 
murders  she  had  committed,  by  which  the  fine  moral  taught 
by  Shakespeare  is  quite  lost.  But  the  French  author  could 
not  conceive,  I  dare  say,  why  a  successful  murder  of  former 
days  should  excite  any  remorse  or  anxiety. 

I  chatted  with  Rogers  the  poet.  He  informs  me  that  Ma- 
dame de  Stael  is  considered  in  great  danger. 

June  28th,  —  At  six  I  dined  with  Pollock.*  A  genteel  din- 
ner-party. Coleridge  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Ray,  &c.  The 
afternoon  went  off  exceedingly  well.    An  anecdote  was  told  of 

*  Afterwards  Chief  Baron. 


366     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  OR  ABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


Home  Tooke,  very  characteristic  and  probable.  At  school,  he 
was  asked  iDliy  he  put  a  word  in  some  case  or  mood,  and  an- 
swered, ^'  I  do  not  know,"  for  which  he  was  instantly  flogged. 
Another  boy  was  then  asked,  who  repeated  the  grammatical 
rule,  and  took  his  place  in  the  class.  On  this  Tooke  cried. 
His  master  asked  him  what  he  meant,  and  Tooke  said  :  "  I 
knew  the  rule  as  well  as  he  did,  but  you  did  not  ask  for  the 
rule,  but  the  reason.  You  asked  why  it  is  so,  and  I  do  not 
know  that  now."  The  master  is  said  to  have  taken  him  aside 
and  given  him  a  Virgil  in  memory  of  the  injustice  done  him, 
of  which  Virgil  Tooke  was  very  proud. 

I  went  late  to  Tieck,  and  chatted  some  time  about  the 
books,  &c.  he  had  still  to  buy. 

June  29th, —  I  had  more  conversation  with  Tieck  this  even- 
ing than  before  on  general  literary  subjects.  He  is  well  read 
in  the  English  dramatic  literature,  having  read  all  the  English 
plays  which  were  accessible  in  Germany  ;  and  he  has  a  decision 
of  opinion  which  one  wonders  at  in  a  foreigner.  He  has  no 
high  opinion  of  Coleridge's  critique,  but  he  saj^s  he  has  learned 
a  great  deal  from  Coleridge,  who  has  glorious  conceptions  about 
Shakespeare  (lierrliche  Ideen).  Coleridge's  conversation  he 
very  much  admires,  and  thinks  it  superior  to  any  of  his  writ- 
ings. But  he  says  there  is  much  high  poetry  in  "  Christabel." 
He  thinks  well  of  the  remarks  on  language  in  Lord  Chedworth's 
book  about  Shakespeare,*  and  that  Strutt's  remarks  are  acute. 
Of  Ben  Jonson  he  thinks  highly.  The  pieces  he  distinguished 
were  "Bartholomew  Fair"  (perhaps  his  best  piece),  ''The 
Devil  is  an  Ass,"  The  Alchymist,"  The  Fox,"  "  The  Silent 
Woman,"  &c.  He  says  his  work  on  Shakespeare  will  be  minute 
as  to  the  language,  which,  he  thinks,  underwent  changes.  Of 
German  literature  he  does  not  speak  promisingly.  The  popular 
writers  (such  as  Fouque)  he  despises,  and  he  says  that  unhap- 
pily there  have  sprung  up  a  number  of  imitators  of  himself. 
He  praises  Solger's  work  t  very  much,  and  he  is  the  only  recent 
writer  whom  he  mentioned.  Of  Goethe  he  spoke  with  less  en- 
thusiasm than  I  expected,  but  with  as  much  as  he  ought,  per- 
haps. The  want  of  religion  in  Goethe  is  a  great  scandal  to 
Tieck,  I  have  no  doubt.  His  later  writings,  Tieck  thinks,  are 
somewhat  loquacious. 

*  "  Notes  upon  some  of  the  Obscure  Passages  in  Shakespeare's  Plays."  By 
the  late  Right  Hon.  John  Lord  Ched worth.   London,  1805.   Privately  printed. 

t  "  Erwin,  vier  Gesprache  iiber  das  Schone  und  die  Kunst  "  (Four  Conversa- 
tions on  the  Beautiful  and  Art),  1815.  A  more  systematic  work  by  him  en- 
titled "  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  iEsthetik  "  (Lectures  on  ^Esthetics),  1829,  was 
published  after  his  death. 


1817.]  AT  PARIS.  —  ATHANASE  COQUEKEL.  367 

RemJ^  —  This  summer  I  made  my  second  visit  to  Paris.  Of 
places  I  shall  write  notumg,  out  a  few  personal  incidents  may 
be  mentioned. 

I  undertook  to  escort  my  sister,  who  had  a  companion  in 
Esther  Nash.  And  my  nephew  was  the  fourth  to  fill  the  car- 
riage which  we  hired  at  Calais.  My  brothers  crossed  the  water 
with  us.  We  slept  at  Dover  on  the  15th  of  August,  and 
reached  Paris  on  the  2 1  st,  —  six  days  on  the  road.  Last  year 
I  left  Paris  after  a  comfortable  breakfast,  and  slept  at  Dover ; 
my  travelling  companion,  however,  reached  London  the  same 
night,  and  would  have  gone  to  a  ball,  if  he  had  not  unexpect- 
edly found  his  family  at  home. 

At  Paris  were  then  dwelling,  under  the  care  of  the  cele- 
brated Madame  Campan,  the  two  Miss  Hutchisons,  who  accom- 
panied us  repeatedly  in  our  sight-seeings.  To  the  youngest 
my  nephew  was  then  betrothed.  We  were  at  the  Hotel  Yalois, 
Rue  Richelieu,  from  whence  we  issued  daily  to  see  the  well- 
known  sights  of  Paris.  Our  acquaintances  were  not  numer- 
ous. The  ladies  knew  Miss  Benger,  with  whom  was  Miss 
Clarke,  and  were  glad  to  be  introduced  to  Helen  Maria  Wil- 
liams.! Her  nephews  were  then  become  young  men, — at 
least  the  elder,  Coquerel,  now  the  eloquent  and  popular 
preacher,  and  a  distinguished  member  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. He  has  managed  to  retain  his  post  of  preacher 
at  the  Oratoire.  His  theology  was  then  sufficiently  pronounced, 
and  indicated  what  has  been  since  made  public.  There  was  a 
manifest  disinclination  to  enter  on  matters  of  controversy,  and 
he  had  the  authority  of  his  own  church  to  justify  him.  He  in- 
formed me  of  the  commands  issued  by  the  ecclesiastical  council 
of  the  once  too  orthodox  church  of  Geneva,  and  addressed  to 
the  clergy,  to  abstain  from  preachin>2^  on  the  Trinity^  Eternity 
of  Hell,  Corruption  of  Human  Nature,  and  Original  Sin,  be- 
tween which  last  two  doctrines  French  theologians  make  a 
distinction. 

Professor  Froriep  of  Weimar  was  then  at  Paris.  He  intro- 
duced me  to  a  remarkable  man,  —  Count  Schlaberndorf,  about 
seventy  years  of  age,  a  Prussian  subject,  a  cynic  in  his  habits, 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  Mr.  Robinson  had  been  introduced  to  Miss  Williams  by  Mrs.  Clarkson  in 
1814.  Miss  Williams  wrote  several  works  in  connection  with  the  political  state 
of  France,  as  a  Republic  and  as  an  Empire.  She  also  wrote  a  novel  called 
"  Julia,"  "  A  Tour  in  Switzerland,"  "  Miscellaneous  Poems,"  and  "  Poems  on 
various  Occasions."  During  her  residence  in  Paris,  which  extended  over  many 
years,  she  was,  by  Robespierre,  confined  for  some  time  in  the  Temple. 


368     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


though  stately  in  figure  and  gentlemanly  in  his  air.  He  was 
residing  in  a  very  dirty  apartment  in  the  third  floor  of  the 
Hotel  des  Siciles,  Rue  Richelieu.  His  hands  and  face  were 
clean,  but  his  dress,  consisting  of  a  bedgown  of  shot  satin  of  a 
dark  color,  was  very  dirty.  He  had  a  gray  beard,  with  bushy 
hair,  mild  eyes,  handsome  nose,  and  lips  hid  by  whiskers.  He 
came  to  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  ;  was  in 
prison  during  the  Reign  of  Terror,  and  escaped.  That  he 
might  not  be  talked  about,  he  lived  on  almost  nothing.  On 
my  answering  his  French  in  German,  he  replied  with  pleas- 
ure, and  talked  very  freely.  His  vivacity  was  very  agree- 
able, and  without  any  introduction  he  burst  at  once  upon  the 
great  social  questions  of  the  age.  In  my  journal  I  wrote  :  "  He 
comes  nearer  my  idea  of  Socrates  than  any  man  I  ever  saw, 
except  that  I  think  Socrates  would  not  have  dressed  himself 
otherwise  than  his  fellow-citizens  did."  He  spoke  of  his  first 
arrival  in  France.  "  I  used  to  say,"  he  said,  I  was  a  republi- 
can, and  then  there  were  no  republics.  The  Revolution  came, 
and  then  I  said  :  *  There  are  republics,  and  no  republicans."* 
I  asked  him  how  he  came  to  be  arrested.  He  said  :  On  the 
denunciation  of  a  political  fanatic,  a  kind-hearted  and  very  be- 
nevolent man.  He  probably  reasoned  thus :  *  Why  is  this 
stranger  and  nobleman  here  1  What  has  he  done  for  which 
the  Allies  would  hang  him  1  He  is  therefore  a  suspicious  char- 
acter. If  he  is  guilty,  he  ought  to  be  secured ;  if  he  is  a  repub- 
lican and  innocent,  he  will  be  reconciled  to  a  fate  which  the 
public  interest  requires.'  That  was  the  logic  of  the  day. 
When  I  was  arrested  I  had  but  300  francs.  It  was  not  safe 
to  attempt  getting  any  supply  by  means  of  writing,  so  I  lived 
on  bread  and  boiled  plums."  Froriep  inquired  why  he  did  not 
return  to  Germany.  He  said  :  ''I  should  be  made  a  centre  of 
intrigues.  I  am  a  reformer,  but  an  enemy  to  revolutions."  He 
metaphysicized  obscurely.  Yet  he  distinguished  fairly  enough 
between  patriotism  and  nationality.  He  denied  the  one,  but 
allowed  the  other  to  the  English  aristocracy,  who  would  sell  the 
liberties  of  the  people  to  the  crown,  but  not  the  crown  to  a 
foreign  power. 

During  my  stay  at  Paris  I  renewed  my  acquaintance  with 
Gregoire.*  He  had  been  unjustly  expelled  from  the  Legis- 
lative Body,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  voted  for  the  death 
of  Louis  XVI.  In  fact,  he  voted  him  guilty,  but  voted  against 
the  punishment  of  death  in  any  case,  and  that  he  should  be 


*  Vide  1814,  ante,  p.  283. 


1817.] 


PERCY  BYSSHE  SHELLEY. 


369 


the  first  spared  under  the  new  law.  No  wonder  that  Louis 
XVIII.  ordered  his  name  to  be  struck  out  of  the  list  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Institute,  and  that  he  should  be  otherwise  disgraced. 
Without  being  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  Revolution,  he  was 
among  the  best  of  the  popular  party.  He  was  certainly  a 
pious  man,  as  all  the  Jansenists  w^ere,  —  the  Methodists  of  the 
Catholic  Church, — with  the  inevitable  inconsistencies  attached 
to  all  who  try  to  reconcile  private  judgment  with  obedience. 
He  affirmed,  as  indeed  many  Catholics  do,  that  the  use  of 
actual  water  was  not  indispensable  to  a  saving  baptism.  , 

One  of  the  most  interesting  circumstances  of  my  visit  to 
Paris  was  that  I  fell  in  with  Hundleby,*  who  became  one  of 
my  most  intimate  friends.  With  him  and  two  other  solicitors, 
Walton  (a  friend  of  Masquerier)  and  Andros,  I  made  an  ex- 
cursion  to  Ermenonville,  where  Rousseau  died,  —  a  wild  forest 
scene  precisely  suited  to  that  unhappy  but  most  splendid 
waiter. 

[Mr.  Robinson  returned  from  France  on  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber,  but  visited  Brighton,  Arundel,  and  the  Isle  of  Wight  after 
his  return,  and  did  not  settle  down  in  London  till  the  4th  of 
October.] 

November  6th, — I  went  to  Godwin's.  Mr.  Shelley  was  there. 
I  had  never  seen  him  before.  His  youth,  and  a  resemblance  to 
Southey,  particularly  in  his  voice,  raised  a  pleasing  impression, 
which  w^as  not  altogether  destroyed  by  his  conversation,  though 
it  is  vehement  and  arrogant  and  intolerant.  He  was  very 
abusive  towards  Southey,  whom  he  spoke  of  as  having  sold 
himself  to  the  Court.  And  this  he  maintained  with  the  usual 
party  slang.  His  pension  and  his  Laureateship,  his  early  zeal 
and  his  recent  virulence,  are  the  proofs  of  gross  corruption.  On 
every  topic  but  that  of  violent  party  feeling,  the  friends  of 
Southey  are  under  no  difficulty  in  defending  him.  Shelley 
spoke  of  Wordsworth  with  less  bitterness,  but  with  an  insinua- 
tion of  his  insincerity,  &c. 

November  9th.  —  I  dined  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Flaxman,  making 
a  fourth  with  Miss  Denman.  I  enjoyed  the  afternoon.  Flax- 
man  is  a  delightful  man  in  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  his 
feelings  and  understanding,  though  an  uncomfortable  opponent 
in  disputation.  I  so  much  fear  to  offend  him,  that  I  have  a 
difficulty  in  being  sincere.    I  read  extracts  from  Coleridge's 

*  He  has  been  dead  many  years.  His  widow,  a  daughter  of  a  wealthy  man, 
named  Curtis,  is  now  the  wife  of  Mr.  Tite,  the  architect  of  the  Exchange.  — 
H.  C.  R.,  1851.    Mr.  Tite  is  M.  P.  for  Bath. 


370     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 

poems.  The  verses  to  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  in  particu- 
lar, pleased  him.  Certainly  Coleridge  has  shown  that  he  could 
be  courteous  and  courtly  without  servility. 

November  16th.  —  The  death  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  has 
excited  more  general  sorrow  than  I  ever  witnessed  raised  by 
the  death  of  a  royal  personage. 

November  17th,  —  I  witnessed  to-day  a  scene  which  would 
have  been  a  reproach  to  Turkey,  or  the  Emperor  of  Dahomey, 
—  a  wager  of  battle  in  Westminster  Hall.  Thornton  was 
brought  up  for  trial  on  an  appeal  after  acquittal  for  murder.* 
No  one  seemed  to  have  any  doubt  of  the  prisoner's  guilt ;  but 
he  escaped,  owing  to  the  unfitness  of  a  profound  real-property 
lawyer  to  manage  a  criminal  trial.  For  this  reason  the  public 
sense  was  not  offended  by  recourse  being  had  to  an  obsolete 
proceeding.  The  court  was  crowded  to  excess.  Lord  Ellen- 
borough  asked  Reader  whether  he  had  anything  to  move,  and 
he  having  moved  that  Thornton  should  be  permitted  to  plead, 
he  was  brought  to  the  bar.  The  declaration  or  count  being 
read  to  him,  he  said  :  "  Not  Guilty.  And  this  I  am  ready  to 
defend  with  my  body."  And  at  the  same  time  he  threw  a 
large  glove  or  gauntlet  on  to  the  floor  of  the  court.  Though 
we  all  expected  this  plea,  yet  we  all  felt  astonishment  —  at 
least  I  did  —  at  beholding  before  our  eyes  a  scene  acted  which 
we  had  read  of  as  one  of  the  disgraceful  institutions  of  our 
half-civilized  ancestors.  No  one  smiled.  The  judges  looked 
embarrassed.  Clarke  on  this  began  a  very  weak  speech.  He 
was  surprised,  "  at  this  time  of  day,"  at  so  obsolete  a  proceed- 
ing ;  as  if  the  appeal  itself  were  not  as  much  so.  He  pointed 
out  the  person  of  Ashford,  the  appellant,  and  thought  the 
court  would  not  award  battle  between  men  of  such  dispropor- 
tionate strength.  But  being  asked  whether  he  had  any  au- 
thority for  such  a  position,  he  had  no  better  reply  than  that  it 
was  shocking,  because  the  defendant  had  murdered  the  sister, 
that  he  should  then  murder  the  brother.  For  w^hich  Lord 
EUenborough  justly  reproved  him,  by  observing  that  what  the 
law  sanctioned  could  not  be  murder.  Time  was,  however, 
given  him  to  counter-plead,  and  Eeader  judiciously  said  in  a 
single  sentence,  that  he  had  taken  on  himself  to  advise  the 
wager  of  battle,  on  account  of  the  prejudices  against  Thornton, 
by  which  a  fair  trial  was  rendered  impossible. 

*  An  appeal  of  murder  was  a  criminal  prosecution  at  the  suit  of  the  next 
of  kin  to  the  person  killed,  independently  of  any  prosecution  by  the  Crown, 
and  might  take  place,  as  in  this  case,  after  an  acquittal.  The  word  "  appeal," 
however,  has  in  this  usage  no  reference  to  former  proceedings. 


1817.] 


MRS.  BARBAULD. 


371 


RemJ^  —  The  appellant,  in  the  following  Term,  set  out  all 
the  evidence  in  replication,  it  being  the  ancient  law  that,  when 
that  leaves  no  doubt,  the  wager  may  be  declined.  Hence  a 
very  long  succession  of  pleading,  during  which  Thornton  re- 
mained in  prison.  The  court  ought  probably,  according  to 
the  old  law,  to  have  ordered  battle,  and  if  the  appellant  re- 
fused, awarded  that  he  should  be  hanged.-  To  relieve  the 
court  and  country  from  such  monstrosities,  the  judgment  was 
postponed,  and  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  to  abolish  both 
the  wager  of  battle  and  the  appeal ;  which  some  of  my 
Radical  city  friends  thought  a  wrong  proceeding,  by  depriving 
the  people  of  one  of  their  means  of  protection  against  a  bad 
government ;  for  the  King  cannot  pardon  in  appeal  of  murder, 
and  the  Ministry  may  contrive  the  murder  of  a  friend  to 
liberty. 

Tindal  and  Chitty  argued  the  case  very  learnedly,  and  much 
recondite  and  worthless  black-letter  and  French  lore  w^ere  lav- 
ished for  the  last  time.  This  recourse  to  an  obsolete  proceed- 
ing terminated  in  Thornton's  acquittal. 

November  19th.  —  This  being  the  day  of  the  funeral  of  the 
Princess  Charlotte,  all  the  shops  were  shut,  and  the  churches 
everywhere  filled  with  auditors. 

November  2Sd.  —  I  walked  to  New^ington,  which  I  reached 
in  time  to  dine  with  Mrs.  Barbauld.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles 
Aikin  were  there.  The  afternoon  passed  off  without  any  dul- 
ness  or  drowsiness.  We  had  matter  for  conversation  in  Mrs. 
Plumptre,  — a  subject  on  which  I  talk  con  amore^  in  the  wager 
of  battle,  and  in  the  Princess's  death. 

November  25th.  —  This  was  to  me  an  anxious  day.  I  had 
received  from  Naylor  a  brief  to  speak  in  mitigation  of  punish- 
ment for  one  Williams,  at  Portsea,  who  had  sold  in  his  shop 
two  of  the  famous  Parodies,  one  of  the  Litany,  in  which  the 
three  estates.  Kings,  Lords,  and  Commons,  are  addressed  with 
some  spirit  and  point  on  the  sufferings  of  the  nation,  and  the 
other  of  the  Creed  of  St.  Athanasius,  in  which  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, Lord  Castlereagh,  and  Lord  Sidmouth  are,  with  vulgar 
buffoonery,  addressed  as  Old  Bags,  Derry-Down  Triangle,  and 
the  Doctor,  and  the  triple  Ministerial  character  spoken  of  under 
the  well-known  form  of  words. 

These  parodies  had  been  long  overlooked  by  the  late  Attor- 
ney-General, and  he  had  been  reproached  for  his  negligence  by 
both  Ministerialists  and  Oppositionists.    At  length  prosecu- 

*  Written  in  1851.  . 


372     REMINISCENCES  OB"'  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


tions  were  begun,  and  the  subject  was  talked  of  in  Parliament. 
Hone  and  Carlile  had  both  been  prosecuted,  and  by  their  out- 
rageous conduct  had  roused  a  strong  sense  of  indignation 
against  them.  Unhappily  this  poor  Portsea  printer  was  the 
first  brought  up  for  judgment.  Applications  in  his  behalf  had 
been  made  to  the  Attorney-General,  who  did  not  conduct  the 
case  with  any  apparent  bitterness.  In  his  opening  speech  on 
the  Litany,  he  with  considerable  feeling,  though  in  a  common- 
place way,  eulogized  the  Litany,  but  he  admitted  to  a  certain 
extent  the  circumstances  of  mitigation  in  defendant's  afiida- 
vit,  viz.  that  he  had  destroyed  all  the  copies  he  could,  after  he 
had  heard  of  the  prosecution. 

I  then  addressed  the  court,  saying  that  the  Attorney- 
General's  speech  was  calculated  to  depress  a  man  more  accus- 
tomed to  address  the  court  than  I  was  ;  but  that  I  thought  it 
appeared,  even  from  the  Attorney-General's  own  words,  that 
there  were  no  circumstances  of  aggravation  arising  out  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  crime  was  committed.  I  then  dwelt,  and 
I  believe  impressively,  on  the  hardship  of  the  case  for  the 
defendant,  who,  though  the  least  guilty,  was  the  first  brought 
up  for  punishment,  and  deprecated  the  infliction  of  an  exem- 
plary punishment  on  him.  This  was  the  best  part  of  my 
speech.  I  then  repeated  and  enforced  the  ordinary  topics  of 
mitigation. 

The  Attorney-General  then  brought  on  the  Creed  informa- 
tion, and  was  rather  more  bitter  than  at  first,  and  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  Topping. 

I  replied,  and  spoke  not  so  well  as  at  first,  and  was  led  by 
an  interruption  from  Bayley,  to  observe  on  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  that  many  behoved  in  the  doctrine  who  did  not  ap- 
prove of  the  commentary.  At  least  my  remarks  on  the  Creed 
were  sanctioned  by  the  judgment,  which  sentenced  the  defend- 
ant, for  the  Litany,  to  eight  months'  imprisonment  in  Winches- 
ter Jail,  and  a  fine  of  £  100,  and  for  the  Creed  to  four  months' 
imprisonment. 

I  stayed  in  court  the  rest  of  the  afternoon,  and  at  half  past 
four  dined  with  Gurney.  No  one  but  Godfrey  Sykes,  the 
pleader,  was  there.  He  is  an  open-hearted,  frank  fellow  in  his 
manner,  and  I  felt  kindly  towards  him  on  account  of  the  warm 
praise  which  he  gave  to  my  friend  Manning,  and  of  the  enthu- 
siasm with  which  he  spoke  of  Gifi'ord. 

December  3d.  —  Hamond  called  and  chatted  on  law  with  me. 
I  walked  home  with  him.    He  lent  me  the  last  Examiner,  In 


1817.] 


WORDSWORTH  IN  TOWN. 


373 


the  account  of  my  law  case,  there  is  a  piece  of  malice.  They 
have  put  in  italics,  "  Mr.  Robinson  was  ready  to  agree  with  his 
Lordship  to  the  fullest  extent  "  ;  and  certainly  this  is  the  part 
of  my  speech  which  I  most  regret,  for  I  ought  to  have  ob- 
served to  the  court,  that  the  libel  is  not  charged  with  being 
against  the  doctrines  of  Christianity.  I  lost  the  opportun- 
ity of  saying  much  to  the  purpose,  when  Bayley  observed 
that  the  libel  was  inconsistent  with  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

December  Jfth.  —  I  breakfasted  early,  and  soon  after  nine 
walked  to  Dr.  Wordsworth's,  at  Lambeth.  I  crossed  for  the 
first  time  Waterloo  Bridge.  The  view  of  Somerset  House  is 
very  fine  indeed,  and  the  bridge  itself  is  highly  beautiful ;  but 
the  day  was  so  bad  that  I  could  see  neither  of  the  other  bridges, 
and  of  course  scarcely  any  objects. 

I  found  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wordsworth  and  the  Doctor  at  break- 
fast, and  I  spent  a  couple  of  hours  with  them  very  agreeably. 
We  talked  about  poetry.  Wordsworth  has  brought  MSS.  with 
him,  and  is  inclined  to  print  one  or  two  poems,  as  it  is  the 
fashion  to  publish  small  volumes  now.  He  means  then  to  add 
them  to  the  "  Thanksgiving  Ode,"  &c.,  and  form  a  third  volume. 
He  read  to  me  some  very  beautiful  passages. 

December  6th.  —  I  dined  with  the  Colliers,  and  in  the  even- 
ing Hundleby  called  on  me,  and  we  went  together  to  Covent 
Garden.    I  have  not  been  so  well  pleased  for  a  long  time.  In 

Guy  Mannering"  there  were  four  interesting  performances. 
First,  Braham's  singing,  the  most  delicious  I  ever  heard, 
though  I  fear  his  voice  is  not  so  perfect  as  it  was  ;  but  in  this 
piece  I  was  particularly  delighted,  as  he  sang  in  a  style  of  un- 
studied simplicity.  Second,  Liston's  Dominie  Sampson,  an  ab- 
solutely perfect  exhibition.  His  terror  when  accosted  by  Meg 
Merrilies  was  the  most  amusing  and  correctly  natural  repre- 
sentation I  ever  witnessed.  Emery's  representation  of  Dandie 
Dinmont  also  most  excellent ;  and,  though  not  equal  to  the 
other  attractions  of  the  piece,  Mrs.  Egerton  gave  great  effect  to 
Meg  Merrilies.    But  the  piece  itself  is  worth  nothing. 

December  18th.  —  I  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  morning  at 
the  King's  Bench  sittings,  Guildhall.  Hone's  first  trial  took 
place  to-day.  It  was  for  publishing  a  parody  on  the  Church 
Catechism,  attacking  the  government.  Abbott  *  sat  for  Lord 
Ellenborough.  Hone  defended  himself  by  a  very  long  and 
rambling  speech  of  many  hours,  in  which  he  uttered  a  thou- 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Tenterden,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  King's  Bench. 


374     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


sand  absurdities,  but  with  a  courage  and  promptitude  which 
completely  effected  his  purpose.  Abbott  was  by  no  means  a 
match  for  him,  and  in  vain  attempted  to  check  his  severe 
reproaches  against  Lord  Ellenborough  for  not  letting  him  sit 
down  in  the  King's  Bench,  when  he  was  too  ill  to  stand  with- 
out great  pain.  Hone  also  inveighed  against  the  system  of 
special  juries,  and  rattled  over  a  wide  field  of  abuses  before  he 
began  his  defence,  which  consisted  in  showing  how  many  simi- 
lar parodies  had  been  written  in  all  ages.  He  quoted  from 
Martin  Luther,  from  a  Dean  of  Canterbury,  and  a  profusion  of 
writers,  ancient  and  modern,  dwelling  principally  on  Mr.  Reeves 
and  Mr.  Canning.* 

Hone  had  not  knowledge  enough  to  give  his  argument  a 
technical  shape.  It  was  otherwise  a  very  good  argument.  He 
might  have  urged,  in  a  way  that  no  judge  could  object  to,  that 
new  crimes  cannot  be  created  without  Act  of  Parliament,  and 
that  he  ought  not  to  be  charged  by  the  present  Attorney- 
General  with  a  crime,  in  doing  what  no  other  Attorney-General 
had  considered  to  be  a  crime.  Least  of  all  would  a  jury  con- 
vict him  of  a  crime,  who  was  a  known  adversary  of  the  govern- 
ment, when  others,  of  an  opposite  political  character,  had  not 
been  prosecuted.  This  last  point  he  did  indeed  urge  correctly 
and  powerfully  enough. 

I  left  him  speaking  to  go  to  dinner  at  Collier's.  The  trial 
was  not  over  till  late  in  the  evening,  when  he  was  acquitted. 

I  spent  the  evening  at  Drury  Lane,  and  saw  Kean  as  Luke 
in  "  Riches."  f  It  was  an  admirable  performance.  His  servile 
air  as  the  oppressed  dependant  was  almost  a  caricature.  But 
the  energy  of  his  acting  when  he  appeared  as  the  upstart  tyrant 
of  the  family  of  his  brother  was  very  fine  indeed.  Though  he 
looked  ill  in  health,  and  had  a  very  bad  voice  throughout,  still 
his  performance  was  a  high  treat.  I  could  not  sit  out  a  poor 
farce  called  "  The  Man  in  the  Moon,"  and  came  home  to  a  late 
tea  in  chambers. 

*  Hone's  defence  was  that  the  practice  of  parodying  religious  works,  even 
parts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  had  been  adopted 
by  men  whose  rehgious  character  was  above  suspicion.  Examples  were  ad- 
duced from  Martin  Luther,  Dr.  John  Boys,  Dean  of  Canterbury  in  the  reign  of 
James  I.,  Robert  Harley,  Earl  of  Oxford,  Lord  Somers,  Mr.  Canning,  and  Mr. 
Reeves.  Of  Mr.  Reeves  Hone  said :  "  His  name  stood  in  the  title-page  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  in  most  general  use,  as  patentee,"  "  he  was  a  barris- 
ter, and  had  been  a  commissioner  of  bankrupts."  Having  shown  from  these 
instances,  that  parodies  were  not  necessarily  disrespectful  to  the  work  parodied, 
and  that  they  had  been  hitherto  allowed,  Hone  declared  that  his  ought  not  to  be 
regarded  as  an  exception,  and  that  on  this  ground,  and  this  alone,  he  asked  for 
a  verdict  of  "  Not  Guilty." 

t  Altered  from  Massinger's  play  of  "  The  City  Madam.'* 


1817.] 


HONE'S  SECOND  AND  THIRD  TRIALS. 


375 


December  19th,  —  I  went  again  to  the  King's  Bench,  Guild- 
hall. Lord  Ellenborough  sat  to-day.  I  was  curious  to  see  how 
he  would  succeed  where  Abbott  had  failed,  and  whether  he 
could  gain  a  verdict  on  Hone's  second  trial  after  a  former  ao- 
quittal.  Hone  was  evidently  less  master  of  himself  before 
Ellenborough  than  before  Abbott,  and  perhaps  would  have 
sunk  in  the  conflict,  but  for  the  aid  he  received  from  the 
former  acquittal.  He  pursued  exactly  the  same  course  as 
before.  This  charge  was  for  publishing  a  parody  on  the 
Litany,  and  it  was  charged  both  as  an  anti-religious  and  a 
political  libel;  but  the  Attorney-General  did  not  press  the 
political  count.  After  a  couple  of  hours'  flourishing  on  irrele- 
vant matter,  Hone  renewed  his  perusal  of  old  parodies.  On  this 
Lord  Ellenborough  said  he  should  not  sufter  the  giving  them  in 
evidence.  This  was  said  in  such  a  way  that  it  at  first  appeared 
he  would  not  suffer  them  to  be  read.  However,  Hone  said,  if 
he  could  not  proceed  in  his  own  way  he  would  sit  down,  and 
Lord  Ellenborough  might  send  him  to  prison.  He  then  went 
on  as  before.  Several  times  he  was-  stopped  by  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice, but  never  to  any  purpose.  Hone  returned  to  the  offensive 
topic,  and  did  not  quit  it  till  he  had  effected  his  purpose,  and 
the  judge,  baffled  and  worn  out,  yielded  to  the  prisoner  :  — 

"  An  eagle,  towering  in  the  pride  of  place, 
Was  by  a  moping  owl  hawked  at  and  killed." 

I  came  away  to  dinner  and  returned  to  the  Hall  to  hear  the 
conclusion  of  the  trial.  Shepherd  was  feeble  in  his  reply.  But 
Lord  Ellenborough  was  eloquent.  In  a  grave  and  solemn  style 
becoming  a  judge  he  declared  his  judgment  that  the  parody 
was  a  profane  libel.  The  jury  retired,  and  were  away  so  long 
that  I  left  the  court,  but  I  anticipated  the  result. 

December  20th,  —  Having  breakfasted  early,  I  went  again  to 
the  court  at  Guildhall.  The  government  had,  with  incon- 
ceivable folly,  persisted  in  bringing  Hone  to  a  third  trial 
after  a  second  acquittal ;  and  that,  too,  for  an  offence  of  far 
less  magnitude,  the  publishing  a  parody  on  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  which  the  court  punished  Williams  for  by  a  four 
months'  imprisonment,  while  the  parody  on  the  Litany,  of 
which  Hone  was  yesterday  acquitted,  was  punished  by  eight 
months'  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  £  100.  The  consequence 
was  to  be  foreseen.  He  was  again  acquitted,  after  having 
carried  his  boldness  to  insolence.  He  reproached  Lord  El- 
lenborough for  his  yesterday's  charge,  and  assumed  almost 
a  menacing  tone.     He  was,  as  before,  very  digressive,  and 


376     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


the  greater  part  of  his  seven  hours'  speech  consisted  of  very 
irrelevant  matter.  He  did  not  fail  to  attack  the  bar,  de- 
claring there  was  not  a  man  who  dared  to  contradict  Lord 
Ellenborough,  for  fear  of  losing  the  ear  of  the  court,  —  a  most 
indecent,  because  a  most  true,  assertion.  I  expected  he  would 
fall  foul  of  me,  for  my  speech  on  behalf  of  Williams,  but  I 
escaped.  He  drew  a  pathetic  picture  of  his  poverty,  and 
gained  the  good- will  of  the  jury  by  showing  how  much  he  had 
already  suffered.  He  declared  that,  if  convicted,  his  life  would 
be  lost,  and  at  the  same  time  he  scorned  to  ask  any  favor. 
He  was  very  ill  when  the  trial  began,  but  he  would  not  have 
it  put  off,  &c. 

Before  he  got  into  his  defence  I  left  the  court,  and  called  on 
Mrs.  Meyer.  I  dined  and  took  tea  with  the  Colliers,  and 
afterwards  went  to  Amyot.  I  found  him  liberally  disposed  on 
the  subject  of  the  late  trials.  Though  he  considered  the 
parodies  political  libels,  he  thought  the  Ministry  justly  taken 
in  for  their  canting  pretence  of  punishing  irreligion  and  pro- 
fanity, about  which  they  did  not  care  at  all. 

To  recur  to  the  singular  scene  of  this  morning,  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country,  I  cannot  but  think  the 
victory  gained  over  the  government  and  Lord  Ellenborough  a 
subject  of  alarm,  though  at  the  same  time  a  matter  of  triumph. 
Lord  Ellenborough  is  justly  punished  for  his  inhumanity  to 
Hone  on  a  former  occasion,  and  this  illiterate  man  has  avenged 
all  our  injuries.  Lord  Ellenborough  reigned  over  submissive 
subjects  like  a  despot.  Now  he  feels,  and  even  the  bar  may 
learn,  that  the  fault  is  in  them,  and  not  in  their  stars,  if  they 
are  underlings.*  Lord  Ellenborough  has  sustained  the  se- 
verest shock  he  ever  endured,  and  I  really  should  not  wonder 
if  it  shortened  his  life.f 

H.  C.  R.  TO  T.  R. 

Decembeii^  1817. 

1  am  quite  ashamed  of  myself.  After  the  notice  so  atten- 
tively sent  by  my  sister  about  the  turkeys,  I  ought  not  to  have 
forgotten  to  write  yesterday;  but  the  infirmities  of  old  age 

*  Mr.  Robinson  says  elsewhere  that  he  never  felt  able  to  do  his  best  before 
Lord  Ellenborough. 

t  Lord  Ellenborough  resigned  his  office  as  Lord  Chief  Justice  on  account  of 
ill  health  in  the  month  of  October,  1818,  and  died  on  December  13th,  in  the 
f^ame  year.  As  to  the  effect  of  Hone's  trial  upon  Lord  Ellenborough's  health, 
there  lias  always  been  a  difference  of  opinion. 


1817.] 


LORD  ELLENBOROUGH. 


377 


are  growing  fast  upon  me,  and  loss  of  memory  is  the  chief.* 
*  Of  course  I  do  not  wish  my  sister  to  trouble  herself  to-moM-ow, 
but  as  soon  as  she  can,  I  will  thank  her  to  send  as  usual  to 
the  Colliers  and  to  Charles  Lamb.  But  the  latter,  you  are  to 
know,  is  removed  to  lodgings,  and  I  will  thank  you  to  let  his 
turkey  be  directed  minutely  to  Mr.  Lamb,  at  Mr.  Owen's,  Nos. 
20  and  21  Great  Russell  Street,  Drury  Lane. 

You  have,  of  course,  been  greatly  interested  by  the  late  un- 
paralleled trials.  I  attended  every  day,  though  not  during 
the  whole  days,  and  listened  with  very  mixed  emotions  

Lord  Ellenborough  is,  after  all,  one  of  the  greatest  men  of 
our  age.  And  though  his  impatience  is  a  sad  vice  in  a  judge, 
he  yet  becomes  the  seat  of  justice  nobly ;  and  in  the  display 
of  powerful  qualities  adds  to  our  sense  of  the  dignity  of  which 
man  is  capable.  And  that  a  man  of  an  heroic  nature  should 
be  reduced  to  very  silence,  like  an  imbecile  child,  is  indeed  a 
sad  spectacle.  And  the  Attorney-General  too,  —  a  mild,  gen- 
tlemanly, honorable  nature.  But  he  suffered  little  in  compar- 
ison with  the  chief,  and  he  conducted  himself  with  great  pro- 
priety. Hone  said,  very  happily  :  ^'  It  is  a  pity  Mr.  Attorney 
was  not  instructed  to  give  up  this  third  prosecution.  I  am 
sure  he  would  have  done  it  with  great  pleasure.  Had  the 
Ministry  given  him  a  hint,  —  a  mere  hint,  —  I  am  sui'e  he 
would  have  taken  it." 

December  21st.  —  I  breakfasted  with  Ed.  Littledale,  and  met 
Burrell  and  Bright  (also  at  the  bar)  there.  We  talked,  of 
course,  about  the  late  trials,  and  Burrell  was  warm,  even  to 
anger,  at  hearing  me  express  my  pleasure  at  the  result.  He 
went  so  far  as  to  declare  I  was  a  mischievous  character ;  but 
this  was  said  with  so  much  honest  feeling,  that  it  did  not  make 
me  in  the  least  angry,  and  I  succeeded  in  bringing  him  to 
moderation  at  last.  He  feels,  as  Southey  does,  the  danger 
arising  from  the  popular  feeling  against  the  government ;  and 
he  considers  the  indisposition  of  the  London  juries  to  convict 
in  cases  of  libel  as  a  great  evil.  Bright,  who  came  after  the 
heat  of  the  battle  was  over,  took  the  liberal  side,  and  Ed. 
Littledale  inclined  to  Burrell.  The  beauty  of  Littledale's 
chambers,!  and  his  capital  library,  excited  my  envy. 

December  27th.  —  I  called  on  Lamb,  and  met  Wordsworth 
with  him  ;  I  afterwards  returned  to  Lamb's.    Dined  at  Monk- 

*  In  1864,  Mr.  Robinson  notes  on  this:  "  What  did  I  mean  by  old  age  forty- 
seven  years  ago?  " 

t  These  loosed  into  Gray's  Inn  Gardens. 


378     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  20. 


house's.*    The  party  was  small,  —  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wordsworth 
and  JMiss  Hutchison,  Coleridge  and  his  son  Hartley,  and  Mr.» 
Tillbrook.    After  dinner  Charles  Lamb  joined  the  party. 

I  was  glad  to  hear  Coleridge  take  the  right  side  on  Hone's 
trial.  He  eloquently  expatiated  on  the  necessity  of  saving 
Hone,  in  order  to  save  English  law,  and  he  derided  the  legal 
definition  of  a  libel,  —  whatever  tends  to  produce  certain  con- 
sequences, without  any  regard  to  the  intention  of  the  pub- 
lisher.! 

Among  the  light  conversation  at  dinner,  Tillbrook  related 
that  Southey  had  received  a  letter  from  a  person  requesting 
him  to  make  an  acrostic  on  the  name  of  a  young  lady  in  Es- 
sex. The  writer  was  paying  his  addresses  to  this  young  lady, 
but  had  a  rival  who  beat  him  in  writing  verses.  Southey 
did  not  send  the  verses,  and  distributed  the  money  in  buying 
blankets  for  some  poor  women  of  Keswick. 

December  SOth,  —  I  dined  with  the  Colliers,  and  spent  the 
evening  at  Lamb's.  I  found  a  large  party  collected  round  the 
two  poets,  but  Coleridge  had  the  larger  number.  There  was, 
however,  scarcely  any  conversation  beyond  a  whisper.  Cole- 
ridge was  philosophizing  in  his  rambling  way  to  Monkhouse, 
who  listened  attentively,  — to  Manning,  who  sometimes  smiled, 
as  if  he  thought  Coleridge  had  no  right  to  metaphysicize  on 
chemistry  without  any  knowledge  of  the  subject,  —  to  Martin 
Burney,  who  was  eager  to  interpose,  —  and  Alsager,  who  was 
content  to  be  a  listener ;  while  Wordsworth  was  for  a  great 
part  of  the  time  engaged  tete-ct-tete  with  Talfourd.  I  could'' 
catch  scarcely  anything  of  the  conversation.  I  chatted  with 
the  ladies.  Miss  Lamb  had  gone  through  the  fatigue  of  a 
dinner-party  very  well,  and  Charles  was  in  good  spirits. 

December  SlsL  —  The  last  day  of  the  year  was  one  of  the 
darkest  days  I  remember  in  any  year.  A  thick  fog  came  over 
London  between  eight  and  nine,  and  remained  all  the  day. 
Late  at  night  it  cleared  up. 

The  increase  of  my  fees  from  £  355  19  s.  to  £  415  5  5.  6  c?.  is 
too  paltry  to  be  worth  notice.  Yet  my  journal  shows  that  I 
had  not  relaxed  in  that  attention  which  the  Germans  call 
Sitzfleiss,  —  sitting  industry,  —  which  is  compatible  with  slug- 
gishness of  mind. 

*  Mr.  Monkhouse  was  a  London  merchant  and  a  connection  of  Mrs.  Words- 
worth. He  married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Horrocks,  who  lor  a  long  time  repre- 
sented Preston  in  Parhament. 

t  Compare  with  this  Coleridge's  letter  to  Lord  Liverpool,  written  in  July 
this  year.    Yonge's  "  Life  of  Lord  Liverpool,"  Vol.  IL  p.  300. 


1S18.J  SOUTHEY  REFUSES  TO  EDIT  THE  TIMES. 


379 


Eem,^  —  During  this  year,  my  intimacy  with  Walter  not 
declining,  and  his  anxieties  increasing,  he  authorized  me  to  in- 
quire of  Southey  whether  he  would  undertake  the  editorship 
on  liberal  terms.  Southey  declined  the  offer,  without  inquiring 
what  the  emolument  might  be ;  and  yet  the  Times  was  then 
supporting  the  principles  which  Southey  himself  advocated,  f 

Southey  to  H.  C.  R. 

March  13,  1817. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  Your  letter  may  be  answered  without  de- 
liberation. No  emolument,  however  great,  would  induce  me  to 
give  up  a  country  life  and  those  pursuits  in  literature  to  which 
the  studies  of  so  many  years  have  been  directed.  Indeed,  I 
should  consider  that  portion  of  my  time  which  is  given  up  to 
temporary  politics  grievously  misspent,  if  the  interests  at  stake 
were  less  important.  We  are  in  danger  of  an  insurrection  of 
the  Yahoos  :  it  is  the  fault  of  government  that  such  a  caste 
should  exist  in  the  midst  of  civilized  society ;  but  till  the 
breed  can  be  mended  it  must  be  curbed,  and  that  too  with  a 
strong  hand. 

I  shall  be  in  town  during  the  last  week  in  April,  on  my  way 
to  Switzerland  and  the  Rhine.  You  wrong  our  country  by 
taking  its  general  character  from  a  season  which  was  equally 
ungenial  over  the  whole  continent. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

Yours  very  truly, 

Robert  Southey. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
1818. 

JANUARY  6th.  —  I  dined  at  the  Colliers',  and  at  seven 
Walton  and  Andros  came  to  me.  We  spent  several  hours 
very  agreeably  in  looking  over  between  thirty  and  forty  new 
engravings,  chiefly  sacred  subjects.  I  find  the  appetite  for 
these  things  grows  by  what  it  feeds  on.  I  enjoyed  many  of 
them,  and  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  seeing  a  print  of  Guido's 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  The  fact  is  stated  in  the  "  Life  of  Southey,''  Vol.  IV.  p.  261. 


380     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRAI3B  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 

"  Hours  "*  over  my  chimney-piece.  Walton  is  a  man  of  taste, 
and  feels  the  beauty  of  such  things. 

January  12th.  — I  read  in  a  volume  of  Voltaire's  Miscella- 
nies to-day  his  life  of  Moliere,  —  amusing  enough  :  and  his 
^'  critique  of  Hamlet,"  a  very  instructive  as  \Tell  as  entertaining 
performance  ;  for  it  shows  how  a  work  of  unequalled  genius 
and  excellence  may  be  laughably  exposed.  I  forgive  French- 
men for  their  disesteem  of  Shakespeare.  And  Voltaire  has 
taken  no  unfair  liberties  with  our  idol.  He  has  brought  togeth- 
er all  the  disconvenances,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  French 
drama,  as  well  as  the  national  peculiarities.  To  a  Frenchman, 
^'  Hamlet  "  must  appear  absurd  and  ridiculous  to  an  extreme. 
And  this  by  fair  means,  the  Frenchman  not  perceiving  how 
much  the  absurdity,  in  fact,  lies  in  his  own  narrow  views  and 
feelings. 

January  16th.  —  (At  Cambridge.)  After  nine  Mr.  Chase 
accompanied  me  to  Randall's,  where  I  stayed  till  half  past 
eleven.  We  debated  on  the  principles  of  the  Ascetics.  I 
contended  that  the  Deity  must  be  thought  to  take  pleasure  in 
the  improvement  of  civilization,  in  which  is  to  be  included 
the  fine  arts ;  but  I  was  set  down  by  the  text  about  "  the 
lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life," 
which  are  said  not  to  proceed  from  the  Father.  Thus,  I  fear, 
every  pleasing  or  bright  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being 
and  of  the  system  of  the  universe  may  be  met  by  a  text ! 

tTanuary  27th.  —  I  went  to  the  Surrey  Institution,  where  I 
heard  Hazlitt  lecture  on  Shakespeare  and  Milton.  He  de- 
lighted me  much  by  the  talent  he  displayed ;  but  his  bitter- 
ness of  spirit  broke  out  in  a  passage  in  which  he  reproached 
modern  poets  for  their  vanity  and  incapacity  of  admiring  and 
loving  anything  but  themselves.  He  was  applauded  at  this 
part  of  his  lecture,  but  I  know  not  whether  he  was  generally 
understood. 

From  hence  I  called  at  Collier's,  and,  taking  Mrs.  Collier 
with  me,  I  went  to  a  lecture  by  Coleridge  in  Fleur-de-lis  Court, 
Fleet  Street.!    I  was  gratified  unexpectedly  by  finding  a  large 

*  The  well-known  engraving  by  Raphael  Morghen  to  which  Rogers  alludes, 
as  hanging  on  his  wall,  in  his  "  Epistle  to  a  Friend,"  — 

"  0  mark !  again  the  coursers  of  the  Sun, 
At  Guido's  call,  their  round  of  glory  run." 

t  The  syllabus  of  this  course,  which  included  fourteen  lectures,  is  given  at 
length  in  Vol.  II.  of  Coleridge's  Lectures  upon  Shakespeare  and  other  Drama- 
tists." The  subjects  are  very  comprehensive,  —  Language,  Literature,  and 
Social  and  Moral  Questions. 


1818.] 


A  "TIMES"  DINNER. — 


REGENT'S  PARK. 


381 


and  respectable  audience,  generally  of  superior-looking  persons, 
in  physiognomy  rather  than  dress.  Coleridge  treated  of  the 
origin  of  poetry  and  of  Oriental  works ;  but  he  had  little  ani- 
mation, and  an  exceedingly  bad  cold  rendered  his  voice  scarcely 
audible. 

February  Jfth,  —  I  called  on  Godwin,  and  at  his  house  met 
with  a  party  of  originals.  One  man  struck  me  by  his  resem- 
blance to  Curran,  —  his  name  Booth.  Godwin  called  him,  on 
introduction,  a  master  of  the  English  language,  and  I  under- 
stand him  to  be  a  learned  etymologist.  His  conversation  was 
singular,  and  even  original,  so  that  I  relished  the  short  time  I 

stayed.    A  rawboned  Scotchman,  ,  was  there  also,  less 

remarkable,  but  a  hard-headed  man.    A  son  of  a  performer, 

E  by  name,  patronized  by  Mr.  Place,*  talked  very  well 

too.    All  three  Jacobins,  and  Booth  and  R  debaters.  I 

was  thrown  back  some  ten  years  in  my  feelings.  The  party 
would  have  suited  me  very  well  about  that  time,  and  I  have 
not  grown  altogether  out  of  taste  for  it.  I  accepted  an  invita- 
tion to  meet  the  same  party  a  week  hence. 

February  10th,  —  1  dined  with  Walter.  A  small  and  very 
agreeable  party.  Sydenham,  Commissioner  of  Excise,  sus- 
pected to  be  Yetus,"  a  great  partisan  of  the  Wellesleys ; 
Sterling,  more  likely  to  be  the  real  Vetus,"  —  a  sensible  man  ; 
Dr.  Baird,  a  gentlemanly  physician,  and  Eraser.  The  conver- 
sation was  beginning  to  be  very  interesting,  when  I  was  obliged 
to  leave  the  party  to  attend  Coleridge's  lecture  on  Shakespeare. 
Coleridge  was  apparently  ill. 

February  15th,  —  At  two,  I  took  a  ride  with  Preston  in  his 
gig,  into  the  Regent's  Park,  which  I  had  never  seen  before. 
When  the  trees  are  grown  this  will  be  really  an  ornament  to 
the  capital ;  and  not  a  mere  ornament,  but  a  healthful  appen- 
dage. The  Highgate  and  Hampstead  Hill  is  a  beautiful  object, 
and  within  the  Park,  the  artificial  water,  the  circular  belt  or 
coppice,  the  bridges,  the  few  scattered  villas,  &c.,  are  objects 
of  taste.  I  really  think  this  enclosure,  with  the  new  street  t 
leading  to  it  from  Carlton  House,  will  give  a  sort  of  glory  to 
the  Regent's  government,  which  will  be  more  felt  by  remote 
posterity  than  the  victories  of  Trafalgar  and  Waterloo,  glorious 
as  these  are. 

*  Mr.  Place  was  a  tailor  at  Charing  Cross,  —  a  gi'eat  Westminster  Radical, 
an  accomplished  metaphysician,  a  frequent  writer  on  political  affairs,  a  man 
of  inflexible  integrity  and  firmness,  and  a  friend  and  proUg^  of  Jeremy  Ben- 
tham. 

t  Regent  Street. 


382     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 

February  17th.  —  I  stayed  at  home  a  great  part  of  the  fore- 
noon. Wirgmann,  the  Kantianer,  called  on  me.  His  disinter- 
ested proselyte-making  zeal  for  the  critical  philosophy,  though 
I  no  longer  share  his  love  for  that  philosophy,  is  a  curious  and 
amusing  phenomenon.  He  worships  his  idol  with  pure  affec- 
tion, without  sacrificing  his  domestic  duties.  He  attends  to 
his  goldsmith's  shop  as  well  as  to  the  works  of  Kant,  and  is  a 
careful  and  kind  educator  of  his  children,  though  he  inflicts 
the  categories  on  them. 

I  took  tea  at  home,  and,  Hamond  calling,  I  accompanied  him 
to  Hazlitt's  lecture.  He  spoke  of  the  writers  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Anne,  and  was  bitter,  sprightly,  and  full  of  political  and 
personal  allusions.  In  treating  of  Prior,  he  quoted  his  un- 
seemly verses  against  Blackmore  to  a  congregation  of  saints. 
He  drew  an  ingenious  but  not  very  intelligible  parallel  between 
Swift,  Eabelais,  and  Voltaire,  and  even  eulogized  the  modern 
infidel.    So  indiscreet  and  reckless  is  the  man  ! 

February  20th.  —  I  dined  at  Collier's,  and  went  to  Cole- 
ridge. It  was  agreed  that  I  should  invite  Mrs.  Pattisson  to  go 
with  me  to  the  lecture,  and  I  also  took  Mira  May  and  Rachel 
Rutt.  We  found  the  lecture-room  fuller  than  I  had  ever  seen 
it,  and  were  forced  to  take  back  seats ;  but  it  was  a  pleasure 
to  Mrs.  Pattisson  to  sit  behind  Sir  James  Mackintosh.  He 
was  with  Sergeant  Bosanquet  and  some  fashionable  lady.  The 
party  were,  however,  in  a  satirical  mood,  as  it  seemed,  through- 
out the  lecture.  Indeed,  Coleridge  was  not  in  one  of  his 
happiest  moods  to-night.  His  subject  was  Cervantes,  but  he 
was  more  than  usually  prosy,  and  his  tone  peculiarly  drawl- 
ing. His  digressions  on  the  nature  of  insanity  were  carried 
too  far,  and  his  remarks  on  the  book  but  old,  and  by  him  often 
repeated. 

February  2Sd.  —  Heard  a  lecture  by  Flaxman  at  the  Royal 
Academy.  He  was  not  quite  well,  and  did  not  deliver  it  with 
so  much  animation  and  effect  as  I  have  known  him  on  former 
occasions  throw  into  his  lectures. 

February  2Jf.th.  —  I  dined  and  took  tea  at  Collier's,  and  then 
heard  part  of  a  lecture  by  Hazlitt  at  the  Surrey  Institution. 
He  was  so  contemptuous  towards  Wordsworth,  speaking  of 
his  letter  about  Burns,  that  I  lost  my  temper.  He  imputed 
to  Wordsworth  the  desire  of  representing  himself  as  a  superior 
man. 

February  27th.  —  I  took  tea  with  Gurney,  and  invited  Mrs. 
Gurney  to  accompany  me  to  Coleridge's  lecture.    It  was  on 


1818.]         LEIGH  HUNT.  —  C.MATHEWS  ''AT  HOME."  383 

Dante  and  Milton,  —  one  of  his  very  best.  He  digressed  less 
than  usual,  and  really  gave  information  and  ideas  about  the 
poets  he  professed  to  criticise.  I  returned  to  Gurney's  and 
heard  Mr.  Gurney  read  Mrs.  Fry's  examination  before  the  com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons  about  Newgate,  —  a  very 
curious  examination,  and  very  promising  as  to  the  future  im- 
provements in  prison  discipline. 

March  19th, — I  had  six  crown  briefs  at  Thetford.  One  was 
flattering  to  me,  though  it  was  an  unwelcome  one  to  hold.  It 
was  on  behalf  of  Johnson,  whose  trial  for  the  murder  of  Mr. 
Baker,  of  Wells,  lasted  the  whole  of  the  day.  I  received,  a  day 
or  two  before,  a  letter  from  Dekker,  the  chaplain  to  the  Nor- 
wich Jail,  saying  that  some  gentlemen  (the  Gurneys  princi- 
pally) had  subscribed,  to  furnish  the  prisoner  with  the  means 
of  defence.  The  evidence  against  him  was  merely  circumstan- 
tial, and  he  had  told  so  consistent  a  tale,  stating  where  he  had 
been,  that  many  believed  him  innocent.  He,  Dekker,  had  wit- 
nessed my  "  admirable  and  successful  defence  of  Massey,  for 
the  murder  of  his  wife,"  (such  were  his  words),  and  had  recom- 
mended me  for  the  present  case. 

April  18th,  —  (At  C.  Lamb's.)  There  was  a  large  party,  — 
the  greater  part  of  those  who  are  usually  there,  but  also  Leigh 
Hunt  and  his  wife.  He  has  improved  in  manliness  and  health- 
fulness  since  I  saw  him  last,  some  years  ago.  There  was  a 
glee  about  him  which  evinced  high  spirits,  if  not  perfect 
health,  and  I  envied  his  vivacity.  He  imitated  Hazlitt  capi- 
tally ;  Wordsworth  not  so  well.  Talfourd  was  there.  He 
does  not  appreciate  Wordsworth's  fine  lines  on  Scorners." 
Hunt  did  not  sympathize  with  Talfourd,  but  opposed  him 
playfully,  and  that  I  liked  him  for. 

April  2Sd,  —  I  had  a  note  from  Hundleby,  proposing  to  go 
with  me  to  hear  Mathews's  Imitations,  at  eight.  He  came  to 
me  accordingly,  and  I  accompanied  him  into  the  pit  of  the 
Lyceum. 

The  entertainment  consisted  of  a  narrative  (for  the  great- 
er part)  of  a  journey  in  a  mail-coach,  which  gave  occasion 
to  songs,  imitations,  &c.  The  most  pleasant  representation 
was  of  a  Frenchman.  His  broken  English  was  very  happy. 
And  Mathews  had  caught  the  mind  as  well  as  the  words  of 
Monsieur.  His  imitation  of  French  tragedians  was  also  very 
happy.    Talma  was  admirably  exhibited. 

A  digression  on  lawyers  was  flat.  I  did  not  feel  the  ridicule, 
and  I  could  not  recognize  either  judge  or  barrister. 


384     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 


Mathews  was  not  without  humor  in  his  representation  of  a 
French  valet,  attending  his  invaHd  master  in  bed  ;  and  his  occa- 
sional bursts  as  master,  and  as  the  invisible  cook  and  butler, 
were  pleasant.  He  took  a  child,  i.  e.  a  doll,  out  of  a  box,  and 
held  a  droll  dialogue. 

The  best  dramatic  exhibition  was  a  narrative  as  an  old 
Scotchwoman.  He  put  on  a  hood  and  tippet,  screwed  his 
mouth  into  a  womanly  shape,  and,  as  if  by  magic,  became  an- 
other creature.  It  was  really  a  treat.  He  concluded  by  recit- 
ing part  of  Hamlet's  speech  to  the  players,  as  Kemble,  Kean, 
Cooke,  Young,  Banister,  Fawcett,  and  Munden,  with  great 
success. 

April  2Jf.th,  —  I  went  to  Westminster  Hall  as  usual,  but 
had  a  very  unusual  pleasure.  I  heard  one  of  the  very  best 
forensic  speeches  ever  delivered  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly.  He 
had  to  oppose,  certainly,  very  moderate  speeches  from  GifFord 
and  Piggott,  and  a  better  one  from  Horne.  It  was  in  support 
of  an  application  by  Mrs.  M.  A.  Taylor,  that  the  Countess  of 
Antrim  should  abstain  from  influencing  her  daughter.  Lady 
Frances  Vane  Tempest,  in  favor  of  Lord  Stewart,  who  had  ap- 
plied for  a  reference  to  the  Master  to  fix  the  marriage  settle- 
ments, which  application  Romilly  resisted.  His  speech  was 
eloquent  without  vehemence  or  seeming  passion,  and  of  Ulys- 
sean  subtlety.  He  had  to  address  the  Chancellor  against  the 
Regent's  friend,  the  Ambassador  at  Vienna,  and  Lord  Castle- 
reagh's  brother,  and  he  continued  to  suggest,  with  as  little 
offence  as  possible,  whatever  could  serve  his  purpose  as  to  the 
fortune,  age,  morals,  &c.  of  his  Lordship.  He  exposed  with 
much  humor  and  sarcasm  the  precipitation  with  which  the 
marriage  was  urged,  after  a  few  weeks'  acquaintance,  two  or 
three  interviews,  and  a  consent  obtained  at  the  first  solicita- 
tion. 

April  30th. — I  called  on  Lamb  and  accompanied  him  to 
Mr.  Monkhouse,  St.  Anne  Street  East.  Haydon  and  Allston,* 
painters,  were  there,  and  two  other  gentlemen  whose  names  I 

*  Washington  Allston,  distinguished  as  an  historical  painter  of  a  very  high 
class,  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  1779.  In  England,  1803,  he  enjoyed  the 
friendship  of  B.  West  and  Fuseli.  At  Rome,  he  was  known  by  the  resident 
German  artists  as  The  American  Titian:'  He  there  formed  a  lasting  friend- 
ship with  Coleridge  and  Washington  Irving.  He  said  of  Coleridge,  "  To  no 
other  man  whom  I  have  ever  Icnown  do  I  owe  so  much  intellectually:''  AU- 
ston's  portrait  of  Coleridge,  painted  at  Bristol  in  1814  for  Joshua  Wade,  is  now 
in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  His  two  best-known  pictures  in  this  country 
are  "  Jacob's  Dream,"  at  Petworth,  painted  in  1817,  and  "  Uriel  in  the  Sun," 
at  Trentham.  He  married  a  sister  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Channing.  He  died 
at  Cambridge  Port,  near  Boston,  In  America,  1843. 


1818.] 


HAYDON.  —  ALLSTON.  MASQUERIER. 


385 


did  not  collect.  The  conversation  was  very  lively  and  agree- 
able. Allston  has  a  mild  manner,  a  soft  voice,  and  a  sentimen- 
tal air  with  him,  —  not  at  all  Yankeeish  ;  but  his  conversation 
does  not  indicate  the  talent  displayed  in  his  paintings.  There 
is  a  warmth  and  vigor  about  Haydon,  indicating  youthful  con- 
fidence, often  the  concomitant  of  talents  and  genius,  which  he 
is  said  to  possess.  His  conversation  is  certainly  interesting. 
Monkhouse  himself  is  a  gentlemanly  sensible  man.  Lamb, 
without  talking  much,  talked  his  best.  I  enjoyed  the  even- 
ing. 

May  Jflu  —  At  six  I  dined  with  Masquerier,*  and  met  a 
singular  party.  The  principal  guest  was  the  once  famous  Ma- 
jor Scott  Waring, t  he  who,  when  censured  by  the  Speaker,  on 
Burke's  saying  that  he  hoped  it  would  not  occasion  feelings  too 
painful,  started  up  and  said  he  need  not  fear  that :  he  had 
already  forgotten  it. 

The  Major,  now  exhibits  rather  the  remains  of  a  military 
courtier  and  gentleman  of  the  old  school  than  of  a  statesman, 
the  political  adversary  of  Burke.  But  good  breeding  is  very 
marked  in  him. 

Coleridge  to  H.  C.  R. 

May  3,  1818. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  Ecce  iterum  Crispinus  !  Another  mendicant 
letter  from  S.  T.  C.  !   But  no,  it  is  from  the  poor  little  children 

*  John  James  Masquerier,  a  portrait-painter  by  profession.  Without  as- 
piring to  academical  rank,  he  attained  an  independence  by  his  professional 
life  of  twenty-eight  years.  He  was  descended  on  both  the  father's  and  the 
mother's  side  from  French  Protestant  refugees.  Being  sent  to  school  in  Paris, 
he  witnessed  some  of  the  most  thrilling  scenes  of  the  Revolution.  Being 
again  at  Paris  in  1800,  he  obtained  permission  to  make  a  likeness  of  the  First 
Consul  without  his  being  aware  of  what  was  going  on.  With  this  and  other 
sketches  he  returned  to  England,  and  composed  a  picture  of  "  Napoleon  re- 
viewing the  Consular  Guards  in  the  Court  of  the  Tuileries."  It  was  the  first 
genuine  likeness  of  the  famous  man;  and  being  exhibited  in  Piccadilly  in 
1801,  produced  to  the  young  artist  a  profit  of  a  thousand  pounds.  Beattie,  in 
♦  his  Life  of  Thomas  Campbell  (Vol.  T.  p.  429),  quotes  a  description  of  Mas- 
querier by  the  poet  as  "  a  pleasant  little  fellow  with  French  vivacity."  In 
1812  he  married  a  Scotch  lady,  the  widow  of  Scott,  the  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy  at  Aberdeeii.  This  lady  was  by  birth  a  Forbes,  and  related  to  the 
Frasers  and  Erskines.  After  Mr.  Masquerier  retired  from  his  profession,  he 
went  to  live  at  Brighton,  where  he  was  the  respected  associate  of  Copley 
Fielding,  Horace  Smith,  and  other  artists  and  literary  men.  H.  C.  R.  was  his 
frequent  guest,  and  on  several  occasions  travelled  with  him.  Mr.  Masquerier 
died  March  13,  1855,  in  his  77th  year. 

Abridged  from  an  obituary  notice  by  H.  C.  R.  in  the  GeniUmarCs  Magazine^ 
M'ly,  1855. 

t  The  friend  and  zealous  supporter  of  Warren  Hastings  in  his  trial.  —  H.  G. 
R.     Vide  Macaulay's  "Essays,"  Vol.  III.  pp.  436,  442.,  &c. 

VOL.  I.  17  y 


386     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 


employed  in  the  Cotton  Factories,  who  would  fain  have  you  in 
the  list  of  their  friends  and  helpers ;  and  entreat  you  to  let  me 
know  for  and  in  behalf  of  them,  whether  there  is  not  some  law 
prohibiting,  or  limiting,  or  regulating  the  employment  either  of 
children  or  adults,  or  of  both,  in  the  White  Lead  Manufactory. 
In  the  minutes  of  evidence  before  the  Select  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  on  the  state  of  children  in  the  Cotton  Fac- 
tories, in  1816,  the  question  is  put  to  Mr.  Astley  Cooper,  who 
replies,  I  believe  there  is  such  a  law."  Now,  can  you  help 
us  to  a  more  positive  answer  %  Can  you  furnish  us  with  any 
other  instances  in  which  the  Legislature  has  directly,  or  by  im- 
mediate consequence,  interfered  with  what  is  ironically  called 
"  Free  Labor  "  ]  (i.  e.  dared  to  prohibit  soul-murder  and  infan- 
ticide on  the  part  of  the  rich,  and  self-slaughter  on  that  of  the 
poor  !)  or  any  dictum  of  our  grave  law  authorities  from  Fortes- 
cue  to  Bacon,  and  from  Bacon  to  Kenyon  and  Eldon  :  for  from 
the  borough  in  Hell  I  wish  to  have  no  representative,  though 
on  second  thoughts  I  should  have  no  objection  to  a  good  word 
in  God's  cause,  though  it  should  have  slipped  from  the  Devil's 
mouth.  In  short,  my  dear  sir,  the  only  objection  likely  to  pro- 
duce any  hesitation  in  the  House  of  Lords  respecting  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  Bill,  which  has  just  passed  the  House  of  Commons,  will 
come  from  that  Scottish  ("  der  Teufel  scotch  man  all  for 

snakes  !  ")  plebeian  earl.  Lord  L  ,  the  dangerous  precedent 

of  legislative  interference  with  free  labor,  of  course  implying 
that  this  bill  will  provide  the  first  precedent.  Though  Heaven 
knows  that  I  am  seriously  hurting  myself  by  devoting  my  days 
daily  in  this  my  best  harvest-tide  as  a  lecture-monger,  and  that 
I  am  most  disinterestedly  interested  in  the  fate  of  the  measure, 
yet  interested  I  am.  Good  Mr.  Clarkson  could  scarcely  be  more 
so  !  I  should  have  bid  farewell  to  all  ease  of  conscience  if  I 
had  returned  an  excuse  to  the  request  made  for  my  humble 
assistance.  But  a  little  legal  information  from  you  would  do 
more  than  twenty  S.  T.  C.s,  if  there  exists  any  law  in  point  in 
that  pithy  little  manual  yclept  the  Statutes  of  Great  Britain. 
I  send  herewith  two  of  the  circulars  that  I  have  written  as  the 
most  to  the  point  in  respect  of  what  I  now  solicit  from  you.* 
Be  so  good  (if  you  have  time  to  write  at  all,  and  see  aught  that 
can  be  of  service)  as  to  direct  to  me,  care  of  Nathaniel  Gould, 
Esq.,  Spring  Garden  Coffee-House.   I  need  not  add,  that  in  the 

*  This  Bill  was  by  the/<7^/ier  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Peel.  (See  an  interest- 
ing reference  in  Yonge's  Life  of  Lord  Liverpool,"  Vol.  IL  p.  367.)  The  Ten 
Hours  Bill,  restricting  the  honrs  of  labor  in  factories  for  children  and  persons 
of  tender  years  to  ten  hours,  passed  in  1844. 


1818.]         M  ACRE  AD  Y.  —  MISS  STEPHENS.  —  LISTON.  387 


present  case,  Bis  dat  qui  cito  dat.  For  procrastination  is  a 
monopoly  (in  which  you  have  no  partnership)  of  your  sincere, 
and  with  respectful  esteem,  affectionate  friend, 

S.  T.  Coleridge.^ 

May  7th.  —  I  lounged  at  the  Surrey  Institution  till  it  was 
time  to  go  to  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  where  I  w^ent  by  ap- 
pointment with  Thomas  Stansfeld.  We  heard  The  Slave," 
and  saw  "  The  Sorrows  of  Werther."  ^^The  Slave"  is  a  senti- 
mental musical  drama,  which  exhibits  Macready  to  great  ad- 
vantage. He  is  an  heroic,  supergenerous,  and  noble  African, 
who  exercises  every  sort  of  virtue  and  self-denial,  with  no 
regard  to  propriety,  but  considerable  stage  effect.  Miss 
Stephens's  singing  is  as  unlike  an  African  as  her  fair  com- 
plexion. She  is  very  sweet  in  this  character.  Braham's  voice 
was  husky,  and  he  hardly  got  as  much  applause  as  Sinclair. 
Liston  as  a  booby  cockney,  come  to  see  an  old  maiden  aunt ; 
Emery  as  his  Yorkshire  friend,  who  is  to  help  him  out  of  diffi- 
culties, are  decently  funny. 

The  Sorrows  of  Werther"  is  a  pleasant  burlesque,  and  Lis- 
ton infinitely  comic.  I  cannot  account  for  the  caprice  which 
made  this  piece  so  unpopular,  in  spite  of  Liston's  capital  act- 
ing. The  great  objection  is  that  the  satire  is  not  felt.  Wer- 
ther's  sentimentality  is  ridiculous  enough,  but  who  cares  in 
England  for  foreign  literature  1  Had  we  a  party  here  who 
were  bent  on  supporting,  and  another  resolved  to  ruin,  the 
German  poet,  there  would  be  an  interest.  Besides,  I  am  not 
sure  that  the  sapient  public  knew  what  was  meant  for  bur- 
lesque.   Is  it  certain  that  the  author  knew  % 

May  11th.  —  I  lounged  away  this  day  entirely.  I  went  first 
to  the  Exhibition.  There  I  saw  a  number  of  gaudy  portraits, 
—  and  a  few  pictures,  which  at  the  end  of  a  week  I  recollect 
with  pleasure.  A  splendid  landscape  by  Turner,  "  The  Dort 
Packet  Boat,"  has  a  richness  of  coloring  unusual  in  water 
scenes,  and  perhaps  not  quite  true  to  nature ;  but  this  picture 
delights  me,  notwithstanding.  On  the  contrary.  Turner's 
"  Field  of  Waterloo  "  is  a  strange  incomprehensible  jumble. 
Lawrence's  "  Duke  of  Wellington "  is  a  fine  painting. 

I  called  on  Miss  Lamb,  and  so  passed  away  the  forenoon.  I 
dined  with  the  Colliers  and  took  tea  with  the  Flaxmans.  Mr. 
Flaxman  has  more  than  sixty  engravings  by  Piranesi,  not  better 
than  mine,  and  only  seventeen  the  same,  though  part  of  the 
same  series.    Eraser  says  the  collection  amounts  to  120. 


388     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 

May  2Jfth,  —  This  was  an  agreeable  day.  I  rose  early,  and 
walked  to  Norwood.  The  weather  as  fit  for  walking  as  possi- 
ble, and  the  book  I  lounged  with  very  interesting.  From  half 
past  six  to  nine  on  the  road.  It  was  near  ten  before  Hamond 
came  down.  I  did  not  suffer  him  to  be  called.  I  found  him  in 
pleasantly  situated  small  apartments,  where  he  contrives  to 
pass  away  his  time  with  no  other  society  than  a  little  child, 
whom  he  teaches  its  letters,  and  a  mouse,  that  feeds  out  of  his 
hands.  I  was  the  first  friend  who  called  on  him  there.  He 
writes  for  his  amusement  on  whatever  subject  chances  to 
engage  his  attention,  but  with  no  purpose,  I  fear,  literary  or 
mercantile.    Yet  he  says  he  suffers  no  ennui. 

May  Slst,  —  I  wrote  an  opinion  in  the  forenoon,  on  which  I 
spoke  with  Manningc  I  walked  then  to  Clapton,  reading  Lord 
Byron,  but  finding  the  Kents  from  home,  I  went  to  Mrs.  Bar- 
bauld's,  with  whom  I  dined.  Several  people  were  there,  and 
young  Mr.  Boscoe  called.  Mrs.  Barbauld  speaks  contemptu- 
ously of  Lord  Byron's  new  poem,*  as  being  without  poetry, 
and  in  horrible  versification.    It  may  be  so. 

June  9th,  —  I  took  tea  with  the  Miss  Nashes,  and  accompa- 
nied them  to  Covent  Garden,  where  we  were  very  much 
amused  by  "  She  Stoops  to  Conquer."  Liston's  Tony  Lump- 
kin is  a  delightful  performance.  The  joyous  folly,  the  booby 
imbecility,  of  Tony  are  given  with  exquisite  humor  and  truth. 
And  I  was  charmed  by  the  beauty  of  Miss  Brunton,  though  her 
acting  is  not  very  excellent.  Charles  Kemble  overacted  the 
sheepishness  of  the  bashful  rake,  and  underacted  the  rakish- 
ness,  —  in  both  particulars  wanting  a  just  perception  of  the 
character.  And  Fawcett  but  poorly  performed  old  Hardcastle. 
But  the  scenes  are  so  comic  that,  in  spite  of  moderate  acting,  I 
was  gratified  throughout. 

June  18th.  —  During  the  general  election,  nothing  has  hith- 
erto much  gratified  me  but  the  prospect  of  Sir  Samuel  Romil- 
ly's  triumphant  election  for  Westminster,  and  the  contempt 
into  which  Hunt  seems  to  have  fallen,  even  with  the  mob  he 
courts.  His  absence  from  the  poll,  the  folly  of  his  committee 
in  joining  with  Kinnaird,  —  and  even  the  secession  of  the  few 
who  have  split  their  votes  for  Cartwright  and  Hunt,  will,  I  ex- 
pect, in  concurrence  with  the  decided  hostility  of  the  Court, 
and  the  semi-opposition  of  the  Whigs,  fix  Captain  Maxwell  as 
second  to  Romilly. 

July  Sd.  —  I  dined  at  the  Colliers',  and  then  walked  to  the 

*  "  Beppo,"  published  in  May,  1818, 


1818.] 


VISIT  TO  GERMANY. 


389 


hustings.  The  crowd  was  great.  Biirdett  and  Romilly  are 
again  higher  on  the  poll  than  Captain  Maxwell.  I  consider  the 
election  as  decided. 

July  Jftli,  —  I  spent  the  forenoon  at  Guildhall,  and  took  a 
cold  dinner  at  the  Colliers'  early,  being  desirous  to  see  some- 
thing of  the  election  at  Covent  Garden.  I  was  too  late,  how- 
ever, to  get  near  the  hustings,  and  suffered  more  annoyance 
from  the  crowd  than  sympathy  with  or  observation  of  their  feel- 
ings could  compensate.  The  crowd  was  very  great,  and  ex- 
tended through  the  adjacent  streets.  There  w^as  not  much 
tumult.  The  mob  could  not  quite  relish  Sir  Samuel  Romilly 
being  placed  at  the  head  of  the  poll,  though,  their  hero  being 
elected,  they  could  not  complain.  All  the  Burdettites,  there- 
fore, acceded  to  the  triumph  of  to-day,  though,  a  few  deep-blue 
ribbons  were  mingled  with  the  light  blue  and  buff  of  the 
Whigs.  Sir  Samuel  sat  in  a  barouche  with  W.  Smith,  &c. 
Streamers,  flags,  and  a  sort  of  palanquin  were  prepared,  to  give 
this  riding  the  air  of  a  chairing.  He  looked  rather  pale,  and 
as  he  passed  through  the  Strand,  and  it  appeared  as  if  the  mob 
would  take  off  the  horses,  he  manifested  anxiety  and  appre- 
hension.* 

Rem,'\  —  Thirteen  years  had  elapsed  since  I  left  Jena.  I 
had  kept  up  a  correspondence,  though  not  a  close  one,  with 
two  of  my  friends,  and  though  I  had  ceased  to  devote  myself 
to  German  literature,  I  felt  a  desire  to  renew  my  German  ac- 
quaintance. I  wished  also  to  become  better  acquainted  with 
the  Rhine  scenery,  and  with  portions  of  the  Netherlands  yet 
unknown.  I  shall  not  dwell  on  places,  but  confine  my  remi- 
niscences to  persons. 

At  Frankfort  I  saw  my  old  friends,  at  least  those  of  them 
who  were  not  from  home.  I  found  that  my  Jena  fellow-stu- 
dent, Frederick  Schlosser,  had  been  frightened  into  Romanism 
by  ill  health  and  low  spirits.  These  led,  first  to  the  fear  of 
hell,  and  then  to  the  Romish  Church  as  an  asylum.  His  broth- 
er was  converted  at  Rome,  and  then  made  a  proselyte  of  him. 
They  were  wrought  on,  too,  by  Werner,  Frederick  Schlegel, 
and  the  romantic  school  of  poets  and  artists.  Of  Goethe, 
Schlosser  said  :  "  What  a  tragical  old  age  his  is  !  He  is  left 
alone.  He  opposes  himself  to  the  religious  spirit  that  prevails 
among  the  young  ;  therefore  j  ustice  is  not  done  him.    But  he 

*  A  few  weeks  after  this,  in  a  fit  of  despair  on  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  de- 
stroyed himself,  —  an  event  which  excited  universal  sorrow.  —  H.  C.  R. 
t '  Written  in  1851. 


390     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 

is  still  our  greatest  man."  He  ought,  perhaps,  to  have  said 
also,     He  is  opposed  to  the  democratic  tendencies  of  the  age." 

On  August  23d  I  parted  from  Nay  lor,  and  accompanied  a 
Mr.  Passavant  in  his  carriage  to  Weimar,  which,  after  travel- 
ling all  night,  we  reached  the  second  evening,  passing  through 
Eisenach,  Erfurth,  &c. 

At  Jena  I  found  my  friend  Knebel  *  in  a  garden-house.  I 
was  not  expected,  but  was  soon  recognized,  and  met  with  a  re- 
ception which  justified  the  long  and  fatiguing  journey.  My 
old  friend  was  the  same  as  ever,  —  a  little  feebler,  of  course  ; 
but  in  character  and  habits  the  same  affectionate,  generous, 
high-minded,  animated  old  man  I  knew  years  ago.  With  the 
same  quick  sensibility  to  everything  good  and  beautiful,  the 
same  comical  irritability  without  anger,  and  the  same  rough, 
passionate  tone,  which  could  not  for  a  moment  conceal  the  ten- 
derness of  his  disposition.  Mrs.  Von  Knebel  I  found  the  same 
hospitable  and  friendly  person,  —  attentive  to  her  husband's 
guests,  and  most  anxious  to  make  me  comfortable.  There  was 
a  new  member  of  the  family,  —  a  boy,  Bernard,  —  a  sweet 
child,  delicately  framed,  who  died  young.  The  first  affection- 
ate greetings  were  scarcely  over,  and  we  were  in  the  very  act 
of  projecting  how  I  could  be  brought  to  see  Charles,  the  Ma- 
jor's eldest  son,  who  is  a  lieutenant  in  the  Prussian  service, 
when  he  suddenly  entered  the  room.  The  parents  were  over- 
joyed at  seeing  him,  and  I  was  glad  too.  Thirteen  years  ago 
he  was  a  boy,  now  he  had  become  a  fine  young  man,  with  as 
fierce  an  appearance  as  a  uniform,  whiskers,  and  mustache  can 
give ;  but,  in  spite  of  these,  a  gentle  creature,  and  full  of  af- 
fection towards  his  parents. 

My  visit  to  the  Knebels  was  interrupted  by  an  excursion  of 
two  days  to  Weimar,  of  which  dignitatis  causa  I  must  give  an 
account.  While  at  Knebel's,  the  Crown  Prince  of  Weimar 
called  on  him,  and  was  courteous  to  me,  so  that  it  was  incum- 
bent on  me  to  call  on  him  and  accept  an  invitation  to  dine 
at  Court,  which  I  did  twice.  On  the  first  occasion,  I  was  rec- 
ognized by  the  chamberlain.  Count  Einsiedel,  who  introduced 
me  to  the  Grand  Duchess.  Einsiedel  was  an  elegant  courtier- 
poet,  author  of  some  comedies  from  Terence,  acted  in  masks 
after  the  Roman  fashion.  Prince  Paul,  the  second  son  of  the 
King  of  Bavaria,  was  also  a  visitor.  There  might  have  been 
thirty  at  table,  including  Goethe's  son.  On  our  return  to  the 
drawing-room,  I  was  introduced  to  the  Crown  Prinqess,  and 

*  See  ante,  pp.  126  - 128. 


lolS.] 


THE  COURT  AT  WEIMAR. 


391 


had  rather  a  long  conversation  with  her.  She  was  somewhat 
deaf,  and  I  took  pains  to  be  understood  by  her  in  German  and 
English.  I  mentioned  the  familiarities  of  the  English  lower 
classes  towards  her  brother,  the  Emperor  Alexander,  and  ex- 
pressed a  fear  lest  such  things  should  deter  her  from  a  visit  to 
England.  She  said  the  Emperor  was  perfectly  satisfied,  and 
that,  as  to  herself,  she  wished  to  see  England  :  "  Es  gehort  zu 
den  frommeii  Wmischen''^  (It  belongs  to  the  pious  wishes). 
We  talked  of  languages.  I  said  I  hoped  to  see  the  dominion 
of  the  French  language  destroyed,  as  that  of  their  arms  had 
been.  She  smiled  and  said,  "  Das  ware  viel "  (That  would  be 
much). 

I  was  called  out  of  the  circle  by  the  Grand  Duchess,  and 
chatted  a  considerable  time  with  her.  I  referred  to  the  well- 
known  interview  between  herself  and  Napoleon,  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Jena,  of  which  I  said  England  was  w^ell  informed  (not 
adding,  'Hhrough  myself"*).    She  received  my  compliment 

*  The  account  alluded  to  was  communicated  by  H.  C.  R.  to  the  Times^ 
December  26,  1807,  and  republished  in  Mrs.  Austin's  "  Characteristics  of 
Goethe,"  Vol.  III.  p.  203.  The  following  extracts  will  give  the  substance  and 
result  of  this  interesting  interview:  — 

"  When  the  fortunes  of  the  day  began  to  be  decided  (and  that' took  place 
early  in  the  morning),  the  Prussians  retreating  through  the  town  were  pursued 
by  the  French,  and  slaughtered  in  the  streets.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  were 
murdered,  and  a  general  plunder  began.  In  the  evening,  the  conqueror  ap- 
proached and  entered  the  palace  of  the  Duke,  now  become  his  own  by  the 
right  of  conquest.  It  was  then  that  the  Duchess  left  her  apartment,  and 
seizing  the  moment  of  his  entering  the  hall,  placed  herself  on  the  top  of  the 
staircase,  to  greet  him  with  the  formality  of  a  courtly  reception.  Napoleon 
started  when  he  beheld  her.  '  Qui  etes  vous  ?  '  he  exclaimed,  with  his  charac- 
teristic abruptness.  '  Je  suis  la  Duchesse  de  Weimar.'  — *  Je  vous  plains,'  he 
retorted  fiercely;  'j'ecraserai  votre  mari.'  He  then  added,  '  I  shall  dine  in 
my  apartment,'  and  rushed  by  her. 

*'  On  his  entrance  next  morning,  he  began  instantly  with  an  interrogative 
(his  favorite  figure).  'How  could  jqxvc  husband,  Madame,  be  so  mad  as  to 
make  war  against  me?  '  *  Your  Majesty  would  have  despised  him  if  he  had 
not,'  was  the  dignified  answer  he  received.  'How  so?'  he  hastily  rejoined. 
The  Duchess  slowly  and  deliberately  rejoined:  '  My  husband  has  been  in  the 
service  of  the  King  of  Prussia  upwards  of  thirty  years,  and  surely  it  was  not 
at  the  moment  that  the  King  had  so  mighty  an  enemy  as  your  Majesty  to  con- 
tend against  that  the  Duke  could  abandon  him.'  A  reply  so  admirable,  which 
asserted  so  powerfully  the  honor  of  the  speaker,  and  yet  conciliated  the  vanity 
of  the  adversary,  was  irresistible.  Buonaparte  became  at  once  more  mild, 
and,  without  noticing  the  answer  already  received,  continued  his  interroga- 
tories. '  But  how  came  the  Duke  to  attach  himself  to  the  King  of  Prussia?  ' 
— '  Your  Majesty  will,  on  inquiry,  find  that  the  Dukes  of  Saxony,  the  younger 
branches  of  the  family,  have  always  followed  the  example  of  the  Electoral 
House;  and  your  Majesty  knows  what  motives  of  prudence  and  policy  have 
led  the  Court  of  Dresden  to  attach  itself  to  Prussia  rather  than  Austria.' 
This  was  followed  by  further  inquiries  and  further  answers,  so  impressive,  that 
in  a  few  minutes  Napoleon  exclaimed  with  warmth:  'Madame,  vous  etes  la 
femme  la  plus  respectable  que  j'ai  jamais  connue:  vous  avez  sauve  votre 
mari.'    Yet  he  could  not  confer  favor  unaccompanied  with  insult ;  for  reiterat- 


392     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENKY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 


favorably,  —  said,  as  some  one  must  stay  in  the  house,  she 
was  the  proper  person ;  that,  after  the  phmdering  was  over, 
Buonaparte  behaved  civilly  enough  in  his  fashion. 

The  Grand  Princess  inquired  whether  I  had  heard  the  Rus- 
sian service  performed,  and  on  my  saying  No,"  she  said  she 
would  give  orders  that  I  should  be  admitted  the  next  day 
(Sunday).  I  accordingly  went.  The  Russian  language  I  thought 
very  soft,  and  like  Italian.  But  I  was  guilty  of  an  oversight 
in  not  staying  long,  which  the  Princess  noticed  next  day  after 
dinner.  She  said  she  had  ordered  some  music  to  be  played  on 
purpose  for  me.  She  seemed  an  intelligent  woman,  —  indeed, 
as  all  her  children  have  been,  she  was  crammed  with  knowledge. 

To  terminate  at  once  my  mention  of  the  court,  I  dined  here 
a  second  time  on  Sunday,  and  was  introduced  to  the  Grand 
Duke.  He  talked  freely  and  bluntly.  He  expressed  his  dis- 
approbation of  the  English  system  of  jurisprudence,  which 
allowed  lawyers  to  travel  for  months  at  a  time.  "  We  do  not 
permit  that."  I  said,  "  When  the  doctor  is  absent,  the  patient 
recovers."  A  bad  joke  was  better  than  contradiction ;  besides, 
he  was  right. 

The  intimacy  in  which  the  Grand  Duke  had  lived  all  his 
life  with  Goethe,  and  the  great  poet's  testimony  to  his  charac- 
ter, —  not  ordinary  eulogy,  —  satisfy  me  that  he  must  have 
been  an  extraordinary  man.  On  the  whole,  this  visit  to  Wei- 
mar did  not  add  to  my  prepossessions  in  its  favor.  The  ab- 
sence of  Goethe  was  a  loss  nothing  could  supply. 

I  went  to  the  theatre,  —  no  longer  what  it  was  under  the 
management  of  Goethe  and  Schiller.  Jagermann,  then  the 
favorite  of  the  Grand  Duke,  was  at  this  time  become  fat ;  her 
face  had  lost  all  proportion,  and  was  destitute  of  expression. 
She  performed,  without  effect,  the  part  of  Sappho,  in  Grill- 
parzer's  disagreeable  tragedy  of  that  name.  Mademoiselle 
Beck  played  the  slave,  and  the  scene  in  which  she  bewailed 
her  forlorn  state,  and  gained  the  love  of  Phaon,  was  the  only 
one  that  affected  me.  I  sat  part  of  the  evening  with  Mes- 
dames  Wolzogen  and  Schiller. 

ing  his  assurances  of  esteem,  he  added  :  *  Je  le  pardonne,  mais  c'est  a  cause 
de  vous  seulement;  car,  pour  lui,  c'est  un  mauvais  sujet.'  The  Duchess  to  this 
made  no  reply;  but,  seizing  the  happy  moment,  interceded  successfully  for 
her  suffering  people.    Napoleon  gave  orders  that  the  plundering  should  cease. 

"  When  the  treaty  which  secured  tlie  nominal  independence  of  Weimar,  and 
declared  its  territory  to  be  a  part  of  the  Rhenish  League,  was  brought  from 
Buonaparte  to  the  Duke  by  a  French  general,  and  presented  to  him,  he  re- 
fused to  take  it  into  his  own  hands,  saying,  with  more  than  gallantry,  *  Give  it 
to  my  wife;  the  Emperor  intended  it  for  her.' 


1818.]        GRIESBACH'S  WIDOW.  —  LAST  DAY  AT  JENA.  393 


I  went  to  Tiefurth,  the  former  residence  of  the  Dowager 
Duchess  Amelia,  where  Sturm  *  has  his  establishment,  -  and 
among  the  characters  I  called  on  was  Herr  von  Einsiedel,  the 
morose  and  cynical  husband  of  my  old  acquaintance,  Madame 
von  Einsiedel. 

August  29th.  —  I  accompanied  Knebel  to  Madame  Gries- 
bach's  garden,  the  most  delightful  spot  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Jena.  This  has  been  bought  for  £  1,000  by  the  Grand 
Duchess.  Her  children  were  there,  and  I  was  introduced  to 
the  Princesses,  —  mere  children  yet ;  but  it  is  surprising  how 
soon  they  have  acquired  a  sense  of  their  dignity.  These  chil- 
dren are  over-crammed ;  they  learn  all  the  sciences  and  lan- 
guages, and  are  in  danger  of  losing  all  personal  character  and 
power  of  thought  in  the  profusion  of  knowledge  they  pos- 
sess. This  is  now  the  fashion  among  the  princes  of*  Ger- 
many. 

I  saw  Griesbach's  widow.  The  old  lady  knew  me  in  a  mo- 
ment, and  instantly  began  joking,  —  said  she  supposed  I  was 
come  to  pay  a  visit  to  E  's  t  lecture-room. 

My  last  few  days  at  Jena  were  spent  almost  alone  with 
Knebel.  He  told  me  of  Wieland's  death,  which  was,  he  said, 
delightful.  Wieland  never  lost  his  cheerfulness  or  good-humor ; 
and,  but  a  few  hours  before  his  death,  having  insisted  on  seeing 
his  doctor's  prescription,  "  I  see,"  said  he,  it  is  much  the 
same  with  my  life  and  the  doctor's  Latin,  they  are  both  at 
an  end."  He  was  ill  but  a  week,  and  died  of  an  indiges- 
tion. 

My  last  day  at  Jena  was  spent  not  without  pleasure.  It  was 
one  of  uninterrupted  rain  ;  I  could  not,  therefore,  take  a  walk 
wdth  Fries,  as  I  had  intended,  so  I  remained  the  whole  day 
within,  doors,  chatting  with  my  friend  Knebel.  We  looked 
over  books  and  papers.  Knebel  sought  for  MSS.  of  the  great 
poets,  Goethe,  Wieland,  and  Herder  for  me,  and  talked  much 
about  his  early  life,  his  opinions,  &c.  As  Andenken  {ior  re- 
membrance) he  gave  me  a  ring  with  Raphael's  head  on  it,  given 
him  by  the  Duchess  Amelia,  and  four  portraits  in  porcelain 
and  iron  of  the  four  great  German  poets.  In  return,  I  gave 
him  Wordsworth's  poems,  which  had  occupied  so  much  of  our 
attention. 

*  Professor  Sturm  taught  at  this  establishment  the  economical  sciences, 
i.  e.  all  that  pertains  to  agriculture  and  the  useful  arts.  —  H.  C.  R. 

t  The  Professor  with  whom  H.  C  R.  had  a  misunderstanding.  —  See  ante^ 
p.  134. 

17* 


394     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENPwY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 

On  the  9th  of  September,  I  left  my  friend  Knebel  with  sor- 
row, for  I  could  not  expect  to  see  him  again,  and  I  loved  him 
above  every  German.  His  memory  is  dear  to  me.  I  saun- 
tered, not  in  high  spirits,  to  Weimar,  where  I  slept,  and  on 
the  10th  set  out  in  a  diligence  towards  Frankfort.  I  spent  a 
little  time  with  Knebel's  son  at  Erfurth,  where  he  is  stationed. 
I  had  to  spend  three  nights  on  the  road,  reaching  Frankfort 
at  4  A.  M.,  on  the  13th.  A  more  wearisome  journey  I  never 
made. 

I  spent  my  time  at  Frankfort  almost  entirely  with  my  friends 
of  the  Aldebert  connection,  and  the  Brentano  family  and  their 
friends. 

September  13th.  —  When  I  met  Christian  Brentano  he  em- 
barrassed me  by  kissing  me,  with  all  outward  marks  of  friend- 
ship. '  After  being  an  econome  for  some  years  in  Bohemia,  after 
dabbling  in  philosophy  and  mathematics,  and  rejecting  medi- 
cine and  law,  he  is  now  about  to  become  a  priest.  In  a  few 
w^ords,  he  said  that  he  had  been,  by  God's  providence,  brought 
to  see  that  rehgion  alone  can  give  comfort  to  man.  "  I  was," 
said  he,  ^'  first  led  to  this  by  seeing  what  faith  can  do  in 
making  men  good.  I  was  led  to  knov/  my  own  worthlessness. 
Nature  opened  to  me  somewhat  of  her  relation  to  God.  I  saw 
wonderful  phenomena  —  miracles  !  "  —  "  Do  you  mean,"  said 
I,  "  such  miracles  as  the  Scriptures  speak  of  "  —  ^'  Yes,"  said 
he,  "of  the  same  kind."  I  had  not  the  assurance  to  ask  him 
of  what  kind  they  were,  but  merely  said,  I  had  often  wished 
in  my  youth  to  see  a  miracle,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  all 
further  doubt  and  speculation.  Brentano  then  talked  mysti- 
cally. That  he  is  a  deceiver,  or  playing  a  part,  I  am  far  from 
suspecting.  That  he  has  a  wrong  head  with  great  powers  of 
intellect,  I  have  long  known.  But  I  was  not  prepared  for  such 
a  change.  In  society  he  is,  however,  improved  ;  he  is  now  quiet, 
and  rather  solicitous  to  please  than  to  shine  ;  but  his  wild  Ital- 
ian face,  with  all  its  caricature  ferocity,  remains. 

Rem.^  —  The  Brentano  circle  was  extended  by  the  presence 
of  Savigny  and  his  wife.  He  was  already  a  great  man,  though 
not  arrived  at  the  rank  he  afterwards  attained.  It  is  a  remark- 
able circumstance,  that  when  I  lately  introduced  myself  to 
him  in  Berlin,  —  he  being  now  an  ex-Minister  of  Justice,  fallen 
back  on  his  literary  pursuits,  and  retired  from  official  life, 
which  is  not  his  especial  province,  —  both  he  and  I  had  for- 
gotten our  few  interviews  in  this  year  (1818),  and  had  thought 

*  Written  in  1861. 


1818.] 


STILLING.  —  BUST  OF  WIELAND. 


395 


that  we  had  not  seen  each  other  since  I  left  Germany  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  that  is,  in  1805. 

My  course  led  me  to  Baden-Baden.  It  is  enough  for  me  to 
say  that  I  walked  through  the  admirable  Murg-Thal  with  great 
delight,  and  had  for  my  book  during  the  walk  "  Scenes  out 
of  the  World  of  Spirits,"  by  Henry  Stilling  (or  Jung).  The 
theory  of  the  spiritual  world  entertained  by  this  pious  enthu- 
siast is  founded  on  the  assumption  that  every  witch  and  ghost 
story  is  to  be  taken  as  indubitably  true.  He  has  many  be- 
lievers in  England  as  elsewhere.  Having  been  reproached 
as  a  fanatic,  he  desires  all  unbelievers  to  consider  his  tales  as 
more  visions,  —  these  tales  being  narratives  of  sentences  passed 
in  heaven  on  great  criminals,  (fee,  by  an  eye-witness  and  audi- 
tor. In  Goethe's  Life  is  an  interesting  account  of  him.*  Goethe 
protected  him  from  persecution  when  a  student  at  Strasburg, 
but  became  at  last  tired  of  him.  Goethe  corrected  the  first 
volume  of  his  Autobiography  by  striking  out  all  the  trash. 
This  I  learned  from  Knebel.  That  volume,  therefore,  should 
be  read  by  those  who  might  find  the  subsequent  volumes  in- 
tolerable.   Stilling  was  the  nom  de  guerre  of  Jung. 

I  spent  six  days  at  Paris,  where  were  Miss  Nash,  M.  An- 
drews, &c.  The  only  object  of  great  interest  was  Mademoi- 
selle Mars.  "  She  a  little  resembles  Miss  Mellon  t  when  she 
was  young,  —  i.  e.  Miss  Mellon  when  she  stood  still,  neither 
giggling  nor  fidgety."  I  did  not  foresee  that  I  was  writing  of 
a  future  duchess. 


Novemher  SOth.  —  Thelwall  called.  His  visit  gave  me  pain. 
He  has  purchased  The  Champion,  and  is  about  to  take  up  the 
profession  of  politician,  after  so  many  years'  pause.  An  old 
age  of  poverty  will  be  his  portion. 

December  Sd.  —  I  bought  at  Dove  Court,  St.  Martin's  Lane, 
a  marble  bust  of  Wieland  by  Schadow,  for  ten  guineas.  Flax- 
man  informed  me  of  this  bust  being  there.  He  says  it  is  an 
excellent  head,  which  he  would  have  bought  himself,  had  he 
had  a  room  to  put  it  in.  I  am  delighted  with  my  purchase. 
It  is  a  very  strong  likeness,  and  in  a  style  of  great  simplicity. 
The  head  is  covered  with  a  cap,  which  is  only  distinguished 
from  the  skull  by  two  lines  crossing  the  head  ;  the  hair  curls 
round  below  the  cap,  and  the  head  stoops  a  very  little,  with 

*  Vide  "  Dichtung  und  Wahrheit,''  Books  IX.  and  X. 

t  Afterwards  Mrs.  Coutts,  and  then  Duchess  of  St.  Albans. 


396     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  21. 


the  sight  rather  downwards.  The  forehead  and  temples  are 
exquisitely  wrought,  and  the  drapery  is  pleasingly  folded.  It 
is  unwrought  at  the  sides,  in  each  of  which  is  a  square  opening. 
Having  this  fine  object  constantly  before  me  will  generate  a 
love  for  sculpture.* 

December  Jfih,  —  I  dined  with  John  Collier,  and  in  the  even- 
ing, after  taking  tea  with  Miss  Lamb,  accompanied  her  to 
Co  vent  Garden.  We  saw  "  The  Rivals,"  and  Farren  for  the 
first  time,  the  last  theatrical  tyro  that  has  appeared.  His  Sir 
Anthony  Absolute  appeared  to  me  delightful.  He  is  a  young 
man,  I  am  told,  yet  he  was  so  disguised  by  painted  wrinkles, 
and  a  face  and  figure  made  up  by  art,  that  I  could  hardly 
credit  the  report.  The  consequence  of  a  manufactured  coun- 
tenance and  constrained  unnatural  attitudes  is,  that  the  actor 
has  a  hard  and  inflexible  manner.  Liston's  Acres,  however, 
gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure.  It  was  infinitely  comic  and 
laughable,  and  none  the  worse  for  being  even  burlesque  and 
farcical. 

Rem.'\  —  My  journal  mentions  Farren  as  an  admirable  comic 
actor,  only  twenty-five  or  twenty-six  years  old.  This  must  be  a 
mistake.   He  is  now  worn  out,  and  apparently  a  very  old  man. 

December  19th,  —  I  dined  with  Sergeant  Blossett.  No  one 
with  him  but  Miss  Peckwell  and  a  nephew  of  the  Sergeant's,  a 
Mr.  Grote,  a  merchant,  who  reads  German,  and  appears  to  be 
an  intelligent,  sensible  man,  having  a  curiosity  for  German 
philosophy  as  well  as  German  poetrj^  I  read  a  number  of 
things  by  Goethe  and  others  to  the  Sergeant,  who  has  already 
made  great  advances  in  the  language,  and  can  relish  the  best 
poetry.    Grote  has  borrowed  books  of  me. 

Rem.t  —  This  year  I  became  a  "barrister  of  five  years' 
standing,"  an  expression  that  has  become  almost  ridiculous, 
being  the  qualification  required  for  many  offices  by  acts  of 
Parliament,  while  it  is  notorious  that  many  such  barristers  are 
ill  qualified  for  any  office.  I  was  no  exception,  certainly,  at  any 
time  of  my  life,  being  never  a  learned  lawyer  or  a  skilful  advo- 
cate, and  yet  in  this  my  fifth  year  I  attained  some  reputation  ; 
and  of  this  year  I  have  some  anecdotes  to  relate  of  myself  and 
others  not  uninteresting  to  those  who  may  care  for  me  or  for 
the  profession. 

There  was  but  an  insignificant  increase  of  fees,  from  £  415 

*  There  will  be  further  reference  to  this  bust  in  the  year  1829.    It  is  a  mag- 
nificent work  of  art.    A  cast  of  it  is  or  was  to  be  seen  at  the  Crystal  Palace, 
t  Written  in  1861.  J  .Written  in  1861. 


1818.] 


A  USURY  CASE. 


397 


in  1817  to  £  488  during  this  year;  but  this  little  practice 
brought  me  into  connection  with  superior  men,  and  into  supe- 
rior courts. 

For  instance,  T  had  an  appeal  in  the  Council  Chambers  from 
Gibraltar  with  Sir  Samuel  Romilly.  It  was  a  case  of  mercantile 
guaranty.  I  have  forgotten  the  facts,  and  I  refer  to  the  case 
merely  because  it  shows  Sir  Samuel's  practice.  He  read  from 
the  printed  statement,  in  the  most  unimpressive  manner,  the 
simple  facts,  adding  scarcely  an  observation  of  his  own.  I 
followed  at  some  length,  not  comprehending  the  course  taken 
by  my  excellent  leader,  and  Huiidleby,*  my  client,  was  satisfied 
with  my  argument.  I  pleaded  before  Sir  W.  Grant,  Sir  William 
Scott,  &c.  Hart,  afterwards  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  and  Lovett 
were  for  the  respondents.  Then  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  replied  in 
a  most  masterly  manner.  I  never  heard  a  more  luminous  and 
powerful  argument.  He  went  over  the  ground  I  had  trod,  but 
I  scarcely  knew  my  own  arguments,  so  improved  were  they. 
Judgment  was  ultimately  given  in  our  favor.  I  have  since 
understood  that  it  was  Sir  Samuel's  practice,  when  he  had  the 
reply,  to  open  the  case  in  this  way,  and  not  even  to  read  the 
brief  before  he  went  to  court,  knowing  that  his  junior  and  ad- 
versaries would  give  him  time  enough  to  become  master  of  the 
facts  and  settle  his  argument. 

At  the  Spring  Assizes,  at  Thetford,  I  made  a  speech  which 
gained  me  more  credit  than  any  I  ever  made,  either  before  or 
after,  and  established  my  character  as  a  speaker  :  luckily  it  re- 
quired no  law.  I  thought  of  it  afterwards  with  satisfaction,  and 
I  will  give  an  account  of  the  case  here  (it  will  be  the  only  one 
in  these  Reminiscences),  partly  because  it  will  involve  some 
questions  of  speculative  morality.  It  was  a  defence  in  a  Qui 
tarn  action  for  penalties  for  usury  to  the  amount  of  £2,640.t 
My  attorney  was  a  stranger.  He  had  offered  the  brief  to 
Jameson,  who  declined  it  from  a  consciousness  of  inability  to 
speak,  and  recommended  me.  The  plaintiff's  witness  had  re- 
quested my  client  to  lend  him  money,  which,  it  is  stated  by 
the  single  witness,  he  consented  to  do  on  the  payment  of  £  20. 
A  mortgage  also  was  put  in  ;  and  on  this  the  case  rested.  The 

^  *  Hundleby  was  a  solicitor,  the  partner  of  Alliston,  who  still  lives.  He  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  Curtis,  a  wealthy  man.  He  has  been  dead  many  years, 
and  his  widow  is  now  the  wife  of  Tite,  the  architect  of  the  Royal  Exchange.  — 
H.^C.  R.,  1851. 

t  A  Qui  tarn  action  is  an  action  brought  by  an  informer  for  penalties  of 
which  a  half-share  is  give  to  the  informer  by  the  statute.  The  suit  would  be 
by  Moses,  plaintiff,  who  sues  as  well  for  himself"  (  Qui  tarn)  as  for  our  Lord 
the  King. 


398     REMINISCF:NCRS  of  henry  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [CuAr.  21. 


defence  was  a  simple  one.  It  could  lie  only  in  showing  that 
the  witness  could  not  safely  be  relied  on ;  and  this  I  did  in  a 
way  that  produced  applause  from  the  audience,  a  compliment 
from  the  judge,  and  a  verdict  in  my  favor.  Now,  what  I  look 
back  upon  with  pleasure  is,  that  I  gained  this  verdict  very 
fairly  and  by  no  misstatement.  I  will  put  down  some  of  the 
salient  points  of  my  speech,  of  which  I  have  a  distinct  recollec- 
tion. 

I  began  :  "  Gentlemen,  I  have  often  thought  that  juries,  as 
conscientious  men,  anxious  to  do  justice,  must  be  distressed  by 
perceiving  that  they  are  called  upon  to  decide  a  case  on  most 
imperfect  evidence,  where,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  they  can 
only  guess  what  the  truth  may  be,  hearing  only  one  side.  This 
is  one  of  those  cases.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  my  client 
lent  a  sum  of  money  to  that  man,  his  own  attorney,  whom  you 
have  seen  in  that  box ;  and  that  man  has  thought  proper  to 
tell  you  that,  in  order  to  obtain  that  loan,  he  was  forced  to 
give  £  20.  Now,  this  was  a  transaction  between  these  persons, 
and  I  cannot  possibly  contradict  him.  For,  were  I  to  read  you 
my  brief,  or  tell  you  what  my  client  says,  of  course  denying  all 
this,  I  should  be  reproved  by  his  Lordship,  and  incur  the  ridi- 
cule of  my  learned  friends  around  me  ;  because,  what  the  party 
in  the  cause  says  is  not  evidence.*  This  is  a  hardship,  but  it 
is  the  law ;  and  I  refer  to  it  now,  not  to  censure  the  law,  which 
would  be  indecorous,  but  to  draw  your  attention  to  this  most 
important  consequence,  that  since  you  are  compelled  to  hear 
the  witness,  —  one  party  alone,  —  and  are  not  at  liberty  to 
hear  the  other  party,  in  a  transaction  between  them  and  none 
other,  you  have  the  duty  imposed  on  you  closely  to  examine 
w^hat  that  witness  has  said,  and  ask  yourselves  this  question, 
whether  such  a  statement  as  he  has  thought  proper  to  make, 
knowing  that  he  may  swear  falsely  with  safety  (for  he  can  never 
be  contradicted),  must  be  credited  by  you. 

"  Gentlemen,  at  the  same  time  that  I  am  not  in  a  condition 
to  deny  what  that  man  has  said,  I  add,  with  the  most  entire 
confidence,  that  it  is  impossible  for  you,  acting  under  those 
rules  which  good  sense  and  conscience  alike  dictate,  to  do 
other  than  by  your  verdict  declare  that  you  cannot,  in  this 
essentially  criminal  case,  convict  the  defendant  on  the  un- 
corroborated testimony  of  that  single  witness." 

I  then  pointedly  stated  that,  though  in  form  an  action,  this 
was  in  substance  a  criminal  case,  and  to  be  tried  by  the  rules 

*  This  law  is  now  altered. 


1818.] 


THE  COUNSELLOR'S  BAG. 


399 


observed  in  a  criminal  court ;  and  that,  unless  they  had  a  per- 
fect conviction,  they  would  not  consign  this  old  retired  trades- 
man to  a  jail  or  a  workhouse  for  the  rest  of  his  days  in  order 
to  enrich  Mr.  Moses  (the  common  informer,  who  had  luckily  a 
Jew  name)  and  the  Treasury.  And  I  pledged  myself  to  show 
that  in  this  case  were  combined  all  imaginable  reasons  for  dis- 
trust, so  as  to  render  it  morally  impossible,  whatever  the  fact 
might  be,  to  give  a  verdict  for  the  Qui  tarn  plaintiff. 

I  then  successively  expatiated  on  the  several  topics  which 
the  case  supplied,  —  on  the  facts  that  the  single  witness  was 
the  plaintiff's  own  attorney,  —  an  uncertificated  bankrupt  who 
was  within  the  rules  of  the  King's  Bench  Prison  ;  that  he 
came  down  that  morning  from  London  in  the  custody  of  a 
sheriff's  officer,  though,  when  asked  where  he  came  from,  he 
at  first  said  from  home,  having  before  said  he  was  an  attorney 
at  Lynn.  And  I  had  laid  a  trap  for  him,  and  led  him  to  say 
he  expected  no  part  of  the  penalty.  This  I  represented  to  be 
incredible  ;  and  I  urged  with  earnestness  the  danger  to  so- 
ciety if  such  a  man  were  of  necessity  to  be  believed  because 
he  dared  to  take  an  oath  for  which  he  could  not  be  called  to 
account  here.  And  I  alluded  to  recent  cases  in  which  other 
King's  Bench  prisoners  had  been  transported  for  perjury,  and 
to  the  known  cases  of  perjury  for  blood-money.  As  I  have 
already  said,  I  sat  down  with  applause,  which  was  renewed 
when  the  verdict  for  the  defendant  was  pronounced.  The  man 
I  had  so  exposed  gave  me  something  to  do  afterwards  on  his 
own  account ;  and,  more  than  once,  attorneys,  new  clients,  in 
bringing  me  a  brief,  alluded  to  this  case.  But  the  power  of 
making  such  a  speech  does  not  require  the  talents  most  essen- 
tial to  the  barrister,  —  none  of  which  did  I,  in  fact,  possess. 

In  the  spring  Term  of  this  year,  Gurney,*  the  King's  Coun- 
sel's clerk,  brought  me  a  bag,  for  which  I  presented  him  with 
a  guinea.  This  custom  is  now  obsolete,  and  therefore  I  mention 
it.  It  was  formerly  the  etiquette  of  the  bar  that  none  but 
Sergeants  and  King's  Counsel  could  carry  a  bag  in  Westminster 
Hall.  Till  some  King's  Counsel  presented  him  with  one,  how- 
ever large  the  junior  (that  is,  stuff-gowned)  barrister's  business 
might  be,  he  was  forced  to  carry  his  papers  in  his  hand.  It 
was  considered  that  he  who  carried  a  bag  was  a  rising  man. 

At  the  following  Bury  Assizes  I  was  concerned  in  a  case  no 
otherwise  worth  noticing  than  as  it  gave  occasion  to  good-na- 
tured joking.    I  defended  Ridley,  the  tallow-chandler,  in  an 

*  Afterwards  Baron  Gurney. 


400     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  2L 

action  against  him  for  a  nuisance  in  building  a  chimney  in 
Still  Lane.  The  chief  witness  for  plaintiff  was  Blomfield 
(father  of  the  present  Bishop  of  London).*  He  had  said  that 
he  was  a  schoolmaster,  and  the  plaintiff  and  defendant  and  de- 
fendant's counsel  had  all  been  his  pupils.  When  I  rose  to 
cross-examine  him,  C.  J.  Dallas  leaned  over,  and  in  an  audible 
whisper  said,  "  Now,  Mr.  Robinson,  you  may  take  your  re- 
venge." Good-natured  sparring  took  place  between  Blomfield 
and  myself,  and  I  got  a  verdict  in  a  very  doubtful  case,  —  in- 
sisting that,  if  a  nuisance,  it  must  be  a  general  one,  and  so  the 
subject  of  an  indictment.  Afterwards,  on  an  indictment,  I 
contended  that  the  remedy  was  by  action,  if  it  were  a  griev- 
ance, and  in  this  I  failed. 

Before  the  summer  Assizes  I  dined  with  C.  J.  Gibbs.  Others 
of  the  circuit  were  with  me.  Some  parts  of  his  conversation 
I  thought  worth  putting  down,  though  not  very  agreeable  at 
the  time,  as  it  was  manifestly  didactic,  and  very  like  that  of  a 
tutor  with  his  pupils.  He  spoke  with  great  earnestness  against 
the  "  Term  Reports,"  t  which  he  considered  as  ruinous  to  the 
profession  in  the  publication  of  hasty  decisions,  especially  those 
at  Nisi  Prius,  and  urged  the  necessity  of  arguing  every  case 
on  principle.  On  my  remarking  on  the  great  fame  acquired 
by  men  who  were  eminently  deficient,  he  was  malicious  enough 
to  ask  for  an  instance.  I  named  Erskine.  He  was  not  sorry 
to  have  an  opportunity  of  expressing  his  opinion  of  Erskine, 
which  could  not  be  high.  He  remarked  on  Erskine' s  sudden 
fall  in  legal  reputation,  "  Had  he  been  well-grounded,  he  could 
not  have  fallen." 

This  same  day,  on  my  speaking  of  the  talents  required  in 
an  opening  and  reply,  he  said  that  the  Lord  Chancellor  (Eldon) 
reproached  Sir  James  Mansfield  with  the  practice  I  have  noticed 
in  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  of  leaving  his  argument  for  the  reply, 
which  was  ascribed  to  laziness.  Gibbs  praised  Bell,  the  Chan- 
cery practitioner,  as  a  man  who  was  always  in  the  right.  "  He 
always  gave  the  most  satisfactory  answer  to  a  question  in  the 
fewest  words." 

In  the  winter  of  this  year  I  heard  from  Gurney  some  inter- 
esting facts  about  fees,  which  within  about  eleven  or  twelve 
years  had  risen  much  above  what  was  formerly  known.  Kaye,t 
the  solicitor,  told  Gurney  once  that  he  had  that  day  carried  the 

*  See  ante^  p.  3. 

t  One  of  the  earliest  series  of  periodical  law  reports. 
J  Solicitor  to  the  Bank  of  England,  &c. 


1818.] 


A  JOKE  OF  JEKYLL'S. 


401 


Attorney -General  (Gibbs)  100  general  retainers,  that  is  500 
guineas.  These  were  on  the  Baltic  captures  and  insurance 
cases.  Gibbs  did  not  think  that  Erskine  ever  made  more  than 
7,000  guineas,  and  Mingay  confessed  that  he  only  once  made 
5,000  guineas.  He  observed  that  the  great  fortunes  made  in 
ancient  times  by  lawyers  must  have  been  indirectly  as  the 
stewards  of  great  men.    Otherwise  they  were  unaccountable. 

I  must  here  add  that  all  this  is  little  compared  with  the 
enormous  gains  of  my  old  fellow-circuiteer,  Charles  Austin, 
who  is  said  to  have  made  40,000  guineas  by  pleading  before 
Parliament  in  one  session. 

This  year  there  were  great  changes  in  the  law  courts.  Of 
the  judicial  promotions  Jekyll  said,  being  the  professional  wag, 
that  they  came  by  titles  very  different,  viz.  :  C.  J.  Abbott 
by  desceiity  J.  Best  by  intrusion^  and  Richardson  by  the  opera- 
tion of  law.  The  wit  of  the  two  first  is  pungent ;  the  last,  a 
deserved  compliment.  It  was  expected,  said  Jekyll,  that 
Yaughan  would  come  in  by  prescription.  This  was  not  so 
good.  Sir  Henry  Halford,*  the  King's  physician,  was  his 
brother. 

I  must  not  forget  that,  on  Aldebert's  death,  his  books  were 
taken  by  a  bookseller,  but  I  was  allowed  to  have  what  I  liked 
at  the  bookseller's  price.  I  laid  out  £40  in  purchasing  Pi- 
ranesi's  prints  and  other  works  of  art,  and  had  many  calls 
from  raen  of  taste  to  see  them. 

The  Colliers,  with  whom  I  used  to  dine,  left  London  this 
year.  Their  place  was  to  some  extent  supplied  by  John  Payne 
Collier,!  who  took  a  house  in  Bouverie  Street.  It  was  not 
then  foreseen  that  he  would  become  a  great  Shakespearian 
critic,  though  he  had  already  begun  to  be  a  writer. 

*  Sir  Henry  Halford  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Vaughan  of  Leicester,  but  changed 
his  name  in  1809,  when  he  inherited  a  fortune  from  his  mother's  cousin,  Sir 
Charles  Halford. 

t  J.  P.  Collier  wrote  "  History  of  English  Dramatic  Poetry  to  the  Time  of 
Shakespeare,"  1831  ;  "New  Facts  regarding  the  Life  of  Shakespeare,"  1835; 
"  Shakespeare  Library  ;  a  Collection  of  the  Romances,  Novels,  Poems,  and 
Histories  used  by  Shakespeare  as  the  Foundation  of  his  Dramas,"  1843  ;  and 
various  other  works. 


z 


402     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
1819. 

JANUARY 4th.  —  (At  Bury.)  I  walked  early  up  town  and 
left  with  Mr.  Clarkson  his  MS.  account  of  his  interview  with 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  on  the  subject  of 
the  slave-trade.  This  interview  must  receive  its  explanation 
from  future  events.  The  Emperor  talked  of  the  Quakers  and 
Bible  Societies,  of  the  Society  against  War,  of  which  he  consid- 
ered himself  a  member,  and  of  the  slave-trade,  as  one  might 
have  expected  a  religious  clergyman  would  have  done,  Mr. 
Clarkson  is  a  sincere  believer  in  the  Emperor's  sincerity. 

Thomas  R.  to  Habakkuk  R. 

Bury  St.  Edmunds,  January  6,  1819. 

....  The  Buck  party  were  at  my  house  last  Friday,  when 
we  were  entertained,  and  most  highly  interested,  by  Mr.  Clark- 
son's  account  of  his  interview  with  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle.  His  reception  by  the  most  powerful  poten- 
tate in  the  world  was  extremely  gracious.  The  Emperor  took 
him  most  cordially  by  both  his  hands,  drew  a  chair  for  him  and 
another  for  himself,  when  they  sat  down,  in  Mr.  Clarkson's 
language,  "  knee  to  knee,  and  face  to  face."  The  principal 
subject  of  their  conversation  was,  of  course,  the  abolition  of 
the  slave-trade,  in  which  the  Emperor  takes  an  extraordinary 
interest,  and  seems  to  be  most  earnestly  anxious  to  use  his 
powerful  interest  to  induce  the  other  powers  of  Europe  to  con- 
cur in  this  measure  

The  Emperor,  at  this  meeting,  professed  likewise  the  most 
pacific  sentiments,  and  spoke  with  great  energy  of  the  evil  and 
sin  of  war,  admitting  that  it  was  altogether  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  and  said  that  he  desired  to  inculcate 
this  sentiment  in  the  minds  of  the  different  powers,  and  should 
therefore  propose  frequent  congresses  to  adjust  disputes,  with- 
out having  recourse  to  the  too  common  arbitration  of  the 
sword.  You  know,  perhaps,  that,  for  the  purpose  ef  eradicat- 
ing the  warlike  spirit.  Peace  Societies  have  been  formed  both 
in  this  country  and  in  America.    (We  have  a  small  one  in  this 


1819.]        BENJAMIN  CONSTANT.  —  KEAN  IN  BRUTUS.  403 

town.)  The  Emperor  assured  Mr.  Clarkson  that  he  highly  ap- 
proved of  them,  and  wished  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to 
them.  And  no  longer  ago  than  yesterday,  Mr.  Clarkson  re- 
ceived a  copy  of  a  letter,  written  in  English  by  the  Emperor 
with  his  own  hand,  and  addressed  to  Mr.  Marsden,  the  Chairman 
of  the  London  Peace  Society,  in  which  he  repeats  the  same  sen- 
timents in  favor  of  the  principles  of  the  society.  It  is  at  any 
rate  a  curious  phenomenon  to  find  an  advocate  of  such  princi- 
ples in  such  a  person.  There  are  those  who  doubt  his  sincer- 
ity, but  where  can  be  the  motive  to  induce  the  Autocrat  of  all 
the  Russias  to  flatter  even  such  an  individual,  however  excel- 
lent, as  Mr.  Clarkson,  or  Mr.  Marsden,  a  stock-broker  in  Lon- 
don 1 

January  Hth. —  I  spent  the  day  partly  in  reading  some  very 
good  political  writings  by  Benjamin  Constant,  — the  first  part 
of  his  first  volume.  His  principles  appear  excellent,  and  there 
is  to  me  originality  in  them.  His  treating  the  monarchical 
power  as  distinct  from  the  executive  pleases  me  much.  He 
considers  the  essence  of  the  monarch's  office  to  lie  in  the  su- 
perintending everything  and  doing  nothing.  He  controls  the 
legislature  by  convoking  and  dismissing  their  assemblies  ;  and 
he  even  creates  and  annihilates  the  ministers.  Being  thus  sep- 
arated from  the  executive  body,  —  that  may  be  attacked,  and 
even  destroyed  (as  is  constantly  done  in  England),  without  any 
detriment  to  the  state. 

Rem,*  —  Had  Louis  Philippe  felt  this,  he  might  have  re- 
tained his  throne,  but  he  would  be  an  autocrat,  which  did  not 
suit  the  French  people.! 

January  26th.  — •  We  saw  "  Brutus."  This  play  has  had 
great  success,  and  with  reason,  for  it  exhibits  Kean  advanta- 
geously ;  but  it  seems  utterly  without  literary  merit,  though  the 
subject  admitted  of  a  great  deal  of  passionate  poetry.  Kean's 
exhibition  of  the  Idiot  in  the  first  act  was  more  able  than 
pleasing ;  when  he  assumed  the  hero,  he  strutted  and  swelled, 
to  give  himself  an  air  he  never  can  assume  with  grace.  It  was 
not  till  the  close  of  the  piece,  when  he  had  -to  pass  sentence  on 
his  own  son,  that  he  really  found  his  way  to  my  heart  through 
my  imagination.  His  expression  of  feeling  was  deep  and  true, 
and  the  conflict  of  affection  and  principle  well  carried  out.  An 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  Added  in  the  margin  of  the  MS. :  "  Palpable  ignorance,  this !  At  this 
honr  a  bold  usurper  and  autocrat  has  succeeded  because  he  knew  how  to  go  to 
work.  An  accident  may,  indeed,  any  day  destroy  his  power.  April  17,  1852. 
The  date  is  material." 


404     RExMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 


awkward  effect  was  produced  by  the  attempt  to  blend  too 
much  in  one  play.  The  act  by  which  Brutus  overturned  the 
Tarquins  was  not  that  of  a  man  who  had  a  son  capable  of  trea- 
son against  his  country. 

February  2d.  —  Naylor  took  tea  with  me  ;  and  soon  after, 
Charles  and  Mary  Lamb  came  to  look  at  my  prints.  And  the 
looking  them  over  afforded  us  pleasure.  Lamb  has  great  taste 
and  feeling ;  his  criticisms  are  instructive,  and  I  find  that  en- 
joyment from  works  of  art  is  heightened  by  sympathy.  Tal- 
fourd  came  while  we  were  thus  engaged.  He  stayed  with  us, 
and  afterwards  joined  us  in  a  rubber,  which  occupied  us  till 
late.  Talfourd  stayed  till  near  one,  talking  on  personal  mat- 
ters. 

February  18th.  —  I  lounged  for  half  an  hour  before  the 
Covent  Garden  hustings,  —  a  scene  only  ridiculous  and  dis- 
gusting. The  vulgar  abuse  of  the  candidates  from  the  vilest 
rabble  ever  beheld  is  not  rendered  endurable  by  either  wit  or 
good  temper,  or  the  belief  of  there  being  any  integrity  at  the 
bottom.  I  just  saw  Hobhouse.  His  person  did  not  please 
me ;  but  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  whom  I  met  there,  tells  me  I 
am  like  him,  which  I  do  not  think  to  be  the  fact.  Lamb  *  I 
could  scarcely  see,  but  his  countenance  is  better.  Orator  Hunt 
was  on  the  hustings,  but  he  could  not  obtain  a  hearing  from 
the  mob  ;  and  this  fact  was  the  most  consolatory  part  of  the 
spectacle. 

February  28fli.  —  After  dining  at  Collier's  I  went  to  Godwin, 
with  whom  I  drank  tea.  Curran  was  there,  and  I  had  a  very 
agreeable  chat  with  him ;  he  is  come  to  print  his  father's  life, 
written  by  himself ;  and  he  projects  an  edition  of  his  speeches. 
He  related  an  affecting  anecdote  of  Grattan  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  He  was  speaking  in  a  style  that  betrayed  the  de- 
cline of  the  faculties  of  a  once  gTeat  man ;  he  was  rambling 
and  feeble,  and  being  assailed  by  coughing,  he  stopped,  paused, 
and  said  in  an  altered  voice,  "  I  believe  they  are  right,  sir  !  '* 
and  sat  down. 

April  Sd.  —  By  coach  to  Ipswich  ;  then  on  foot  in  the  dark 
to  Playford  (four  miles).  Mrs.  Clarkson  was  in  high  health 
and  spirits  ;  Tom  and  Mr.  Clarkson  also  well.  I  met  with 
some  visitors  there,  who  rendered  the  visit  peculiarly  agree- 
able. Mr.,  Mrs.,  and  Miss  Grahame,  from  Glasgow.  He  is  a 
Writer  to  the  Signet,  a  brother  to  the  late  James  Grahame  the 

*  The  Honorable  George  Lamb,  son  of  the  first  Lord  Melbourne,  and 
brother  of  William,  who  afterwards  became  Prime  Minister. 


1819.] 


ON  BURKE. 


405 


poet ;  a  most  interesting  man,  having  a  fine  handsome  face 
and  figure,  resembling  Wordsworth  in  his  gait  and  general  air, 
though  not  in  his  features,  and  being  a  first-rate  talker,  as  far 
as  sense  and  high  moral  feeling  can  render  conversation  de- 
lightful. We  talked,  during  the  few  days  of  my  stay,  about 
English  and  Scotch  law.  He  complained  that  the  Comitas 
gentium  was  not  allowed  to  Scotchmen  ;  that  is,  a  lunatic 
having  money  in  the  funds  must  be  brought  to  England  to 
have  a  commission  issued  here  (though  he  is  already  found  a 
lunatic  in  Scotland)  before  dividends  can  be  paid,  &c. ;  and 
bank  powers  of  attorney  must  be  executed  according  to  Eng- 
lish forms,  even  in  Scotland.  The  first  case  is  certainly  a  great 
abuse.  Mr.  Grahame  pleased  me  much,  and  I  have  already 
nearly  decided  on  going  to  Scotland  this  summer.  In  politics 
he  is  very  liberal,  inclining  to  ultra  principles.  He  was  severe 
against  Southey  and  Wordsworth  for  their  supposed  apostasy. 
He  speaks  highly  of  the  Scotch  law,  and  considers  the  admin- 
istration of  justice  there  much  superior  to  ours. 

Ajpril  28th.  —  My  ride  to-day  was  very  agreeable ;  the 
weather  was  mild  and  fine,  and  I  had  no  ennui.  I  travelled 
with  the  Ilev.  Mr.  Godfrey,  with  whom  I  chatted  occasionally, 
and  I  read  three  books  of  the  "  Odyssey,"  and  several  of 
Burke's  speeches.  Burke's  quarrel  with  Fox  does  not  do 
honor  to  Burke.  I  fear  he  was  glad  of  an  opportunity  to 
break  with  his  old  friend  ;  yet  he  appears  to  have  been  pro- 
voked. In  the  fourth  volume  of  Burke's  Speeches,  there  is 
the  same  wonderful  difference  between  the  reports  of  the  news- 
papers and  the  publications  of  Burke  himself. 

His  own  notes  of  his  speech  on  the  Unitarian  Petition 
are  full  of  profundity  and  wisdom ;  his  attack  on  the  Eights 
of  Man  as  an  abstract  principle  is  justified  on  his  own  repre- 
sentation. How  true  his  axiom,  "  Crude  and  unconnected 
truths  are  in  practice  what  falsehoods  are  in  theory  !  "  Strange 
that  he  should  have  undergone  so  great  obloquy  because  this 
wise  remark  has  not  been  comprehended  ! 

May  Sd.  —  I  dined  with  Walter,  Eraser,  and  Barnes.  Eraser 
I  attacked  on  a  trimming  article  in  yesterday's  Times  about 
Catholic  Emancipation.  And  Barnes  attacked  me  about 
"  Peter  Bell "  :  but  this  is  a  storm  I  mast  yield  to.  Words- 
worth has  set  himself  back  ten  years  by  the  publication  of 
this  work.  I  read  also  Tom  Cribb's  Memorial  to  the  Congress, 
• —  an  amusing  volume  ;  but  I  would  rather  read  than  have 
written  it.    It  is  really  surprising  that  a  gentleman  (for  so 


406     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 

Moore  is  in  station  and  connections)  should  so  descend  as  to 
exhibit  the  Prince  Regent  and  the  Emperor  of  Russia  at  a 
boxing-match,  under  the  names  of  Porpus  and  Long  Sandy. 
The  boxing  cant  language  does  not  amuse  me,  even  in  Moore's 
gravely  burlesque  lines. 

May  2ScL  —  I  spent  several  hours  at  home,  looking  over 
reports,  &c.,  and  then  walked  to  Clapton.  I  had  a  fine  walk 
home  over  Bethnal  Green.  Passing  Bonner's  Fields,  a  nice 
boy,  who  was  my  gossiping  companion,  pointed  out  to  me  the 
site  of  Bishop  Bonner's  house,  where  the  Bishop  sat  and  saw 
the  Papists  burnt  :  such  is  the  accuracy  of  traditional  tales. 
He  further  showed  me  some  spots  in  which  the  ground  is  low  : 
here  the  poor  burnt  creatures  were  buried,  it  seems  ;  and 
though  the  ground  has  been  filled  up  hundreds  of  times,  it 
always  sinks  in  again.  "  I  do  not  suppose  it  is  true,"  said  the 
boy,  "  but  I  was  afraid  once  to  walk  on  the  spot,  and  so  are 
the  little  boys  now."  The  feeling  that  Nature  sympathizes 
with  man  in  horror  of  great  crimes,  and  bears  testimony  to 
the  commission  of  them,  is  a  very  frequent  superstition,  — ■ 
perhaps  the  most  universal. 

June  Jfth.  —  My  sister  consulted  Astley  Cooper.  She  was 
delighted  to  find  him  far  from  unkind  or  harsh.  He  treated 
her  with  great  gentleness,  and  very  kindly  warned  her  as  much 
as  possible  to  correct  her  irritability,  —  not  of  temper,  but  of 
nerves. 

June  10th,  —  Clemens  Brentano  is  turned  monk  ! 

June  IJftlu  —  Coming  home,  I  found  Hamond  in  town,  and 
went  w4th  him  to  the  Exhibition.  I  stayed  a  couple  of  hours, 
but  had  no  great  pleasure  there.  Scarcely  a  picture  much 
pleased  me.  Turner  has  fewer  attractions  than  he  used  to 
have,  and  Callcott's  "  Rotterdam  "  is  gaudier  than  he  used  to 
be ;  he  is  aiming  at  a  richer  cast  of  color,  but  is  less  beautiful 
as  he  deviates  from  the  delicate  grays  of  Cuyp.  Cooper's 

Marston  Moor  "  did  not  interest  me,  though  what  I  have 
heard  since  of  the  artist  does.  I  am  told  he  was  lately  a 
groom  to  Meux,  the  browser,  who,  detecting  him  in  the  act  of 
making  portraits  of  his  horses,  would  not  keep  him  as  a  groom, 
but  got  him  employment  as  a  horse-painter.  He  was  before  a 
rider  at  Astley's,  it  is  said.  He  went  into  the  Academy  to 
learn  to  draw  with  the  boys.  Flaxman  says  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  mechanism  of  his  art,  —  he  could  not  draw  at  all,  —  but 
by  dint  of  genius,  without  instruction  (except,  as  he  says,  what 
he  learned  from  a  shilling  book  he  bought  in  the  Strand),  he 


1819.] 


COLLIER'S  BREACH  OF  PRIVILEGE. 


407 


could  paint  very  finely.  He  is  already,  says  Flaxman,  a  great 
painter,  and  will  probably  become  very  eminent  indeed.  He  is 
about  thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  is  already  an  Associate.  He 
paints  horses  and  low  life,  but  his  Marston  Moor  "  is  regarded 
as  a  fine  composition.  His  appearance  does  not  bespeak  his 
origin.     "  I  introduced  him  to  Lord  Grey,"  said  Flaxman, 

and  as  they  stood  talking  together,  I  could  not  discern  any 
difierence  between  the  peer  and  the  painter." 

June  16th,  —  I  was  much  occupied  by  a  scrape  John  Collier 
had  got  into.  A  few  nights  ago  he  reported  that  Mr.  Hume 
had  said  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  Canning  had  risen 
above  the  sufferings  of  others  by  laughing  at  them.  Bell  * 
being  last  night  summoned  before  the  House,  John  Collier 
gave  himself  as  the  author,  and  was  in  consequence  committed 
to  the  custody  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms.  Mr.  Wynn  moved 
that  he  should  be  committed  to  Newgate,  but  this  was  with- 
drawn in  consequence  of  Collier's  manly  and  becoming  conduct. 
I  was  exceedingly  alarmed  lest  this  might  hurt  Collier  with 
Walter,  but,  to  my  satisfaction,  I  found  that  Collier  had  raised 
himself  in  Walter's  opinion;  for,  by  his  gentlemanly  behavior,  he 
raised  the  character  of  the  reporters,  and  he  completely  relieved 
Walter  from  the  impyitation  of  having  altered  the  article.  I 
called  on  Collier  in  the  House  of  Commons  Prison  ;  he  was  in 
good  spirits.  Mrs.  Collier  was  there,  and  Walter  came  too, 
with  Barnes.  I  chatted  with  Walter  about  the  propriety  of 
petitioning.  He  washed  Collier  to  lie  in  custody  till  the  end  of 
the  session,  but  I  differed  in  opinion,  and  corrected  the  petition, 
which  was  ultimately  adopted.  After  a  hasty  dinner  in  Hall, 
I  ran  down  to  the  House.  Barnes  procured  me  a  place,  and  I 
stayed  in  the  gallery  till  quite  late.  There  was  no  opposition 
to  Mr.  W.  Smith's  motion  for  Collier's  discharge.  He  was  re- 
primanded by  the  Speaker  in  strong  unmeaning  words.  W. 
Smith  moved  for  the  bill  to  relieve  the  Unitarians  against  the 
Marriage  Act.f  The  speech  had  the  merit  of  raising  a  feeling 
favorable  to  the  speaker,  and  it  was  not  so  intelligible  as  to  ex- 
cite opposition.  Lord  Castlereagh  did  not  pretend  to  under- 
stand it,  and  Mr.  Wilberforce  spoke  guardedly  and  with  favor  of 
the  projected  measure.  The  rest  of  the  speaking  this  evening  was 

*  The  publisher  of  the  Times. 

t  Mr.  W.  Smith's  object  was  to  obtain  for  Unitarians  at  their  marriage  the 
omission  of  all  reference  to  the  Trinity.  He  did  not  venture  to  propose  the 
more  rational  and  complete  relief,  —  which  was  after  a  time  obtained, — the 
marriage  of  Dissenters  in  their  own  places  of  worship.  Vid&  May's  Constitu- 
tional History,  Vol.  H.  p.  884. 


408     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 


very  poor  indeed,  — much  below  my  expectation.  I  was  heartily 
tired  before  eleven  o'clock.  I  then  came  home,  and  read  a  little 
of  Homer  in  bed. 

June  23d.  —  I  called  late  on  Mrs.  John  Collier.  She  informs 
me  that  Walter  has  been  doing  a  very  handsome  thing  by  John 
Collier.  He  gave  him  a  bank-note  for  £  50,  saying  he  need  not 
return  the  surplus  after  paying  the  fees,  and  hoped  that  it  would 
be  some  compensation  for  the  inconvenience  he  had  suffered  by 
his  imprisonment.  Now,  the  fees  amounted  to  not  more  than 
^  14  or  c£  15.    This  is  very  generous  certainly. 

J uly  6th,  —  I  dined  with  Collier,  and  had  a  game  of  chess 
for  an  hour.  I  then  looked  over  papers,  &c.  in  chambers  ; 
and  between  seven  and  eight  went  to  Godwin's  by  invitation. 
Charles  and  Mary  Lamb  were  there,  also  Mr.  Booth,  —  a  sin- 
gular character,  not  unlike  Curran  in  person  ;  a  clever  man, 
says  Godwin,  and  in  his  exterior  very  like  the  Grub  Street 
poet  of  the  last  century.  I  had  several  rubbers  of  whist. 
Charles  Lamb's  good-humor  and  playfulness  made  the  evening 
agreeable,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  made  uncomfort- 
able by  the  painful  anxiety  visible  in  Mrs.  Godwin,  and  sus- 
pected in  Godwin.    I  cam^e  home  late. 

July  7tlu  —  I  dined  by  invitation  with  Mr.  Belsham.  T. 
Stansfeld  had  written  to  me  by  Mr.  Kenrick  (a  nephew  of  Mr. 
Belsham),*  requesting  me  to  give  Mr.  Kenrick  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  Germany.  Kenrick  left  me  the  letter  with  an  invita- 
tion from  Belsham.  I  had  an  agi'eeable  visit :  a  small  party, 
—  Mr.  and  Miss  Belsham,  Spurrell,  Senr.,  Martineau,  Jardine,t 
a  Mr.  Reid,  and  Mr.  Kenrick.  We  kept  up  a  conversation  with 
very  little  disputation.  Belsham  (and  I  joined  him)  defended 
Church  Establishments,  which  he  thought  better  than  leaving 
religion  to  make  its  way  alone.  J  He  said,  I  think  my  Church 
ought  to  be  established  ;  but  as  that  cannot  be,  I  would  rather 
the  Anglican  Church  should  be  maintained,  with  all  its  errors 
and  superstitions,  than  that  the  unlearned  should  be  left  at 
large,  each  man  spreading  abroad  his  own  follies  and  absurdi- 
ties. §  Kenrick  opposed  him,  and  had  on  some  points  the  best 
of  the  argument.     Jardine,  and  indeed  all  the  party,  w^ere 

*  There  was  no  actual  relationship  between  Mr.  Kenrick  and  Mr.  Belsham ; 
Mr.  Kenrick's  father  married,  as  his  second  wife,  the  sister  of  Mr.  Belsham. 
t  The  Barrister,  afterwards  a  Police  Magistrate. 
X  Written  in  1851. 

§  Mr.  Belsham's  views  on  this  subject  were  published  in  three  sermons, 
entitled  "  Christianit}^  pleading  for  the  Patronage  of  the  Civil  Power,  but  pro- 
testing against  the  Aid  of  Penal  Laws."  Hunter,  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  1820. 


1819.] 


ANECDOTE  OF  GOLDSMITH. 


409 


against  Mr.  Belsham  and  myself.  We  talked  of  animal  magnet- 
ism, and  told  ghost  stories,  and  ghosts  seemed  on  the  whole  to 
be  in  credit. 

July  8tlu  —  Mr.  Kenrick  breakfasted  with  me.  I  was  much 
pleased  with  him ;  he  has  been,  and  indeed  still  is,  tutor  at  the 
Manchester  JSTew  College,  York,  and  is  going  for  a  trip  to  Ger- 
many to  improve  in  philological  studies.  He  is  a  stanch  Uni- 
tarian, with  a  deal  of  zeal,  but  is  mild  in  his  manners,  a  te- 
nacious disputant,  but  courteous,  —  a  very  promising  young 
man.* 

July  12th.  —  (At  Bury. )  I  had  an  agreeable  walk  with  Mrs. 
Kent  over  the  skirts  of  Hardwick  Heath,  —  rather,  enclosure, 
■ — and  home  by  the  West  Gate  Street.  Mrs.  Kent  w^as  grad- 
ually brought  to  recollect  scenes  familiar  to  her  in  childhood, 
but  I  could  recall  few.  How  little  do  I  recollect  of  my 
past  life  1  and  the  idea  often  recurs  to  me  that  it  seems  diffi- 
cult to  reconcile  responsibility  with  utter  oblivion.  Coleridge 
has  the  striking  thought  that  possibly  the  punishment  of  a 
future  life  may  consist  in  bringing  back  the  consciousness  of 
the  past. 

July  21st  —  Mrs.  Kent  had  left  us  in  the  morning.  I  there- 
fore thought  it  right  to  dine  with  the  magistrates ;  and  I  am 
glad  I  did  so,  as  I  had  a  pleasing  day.  We  discussed  the 
question,  how  far  a  barrister  may  lawfully  try  to  persuade  the 
Bench  to  a  decision  which  he  himself  knows  to  be  wrong.  I 
endeavored  to  establish  this  distinction,  that  an  advocate  may 
practise  sophistry,  though  he  may  not  misstate  a  case  or  a 
fact. 

July  25th.  — I  breakfasted  with  Basil  Montagu,  and  had  an 
hour's  pleasant  chat  with  him.  He  related  that  Dr.  Scott  in- 
formed him  that  he  waited  on  Oliver  Goldsmith,  with  another 
gentleman,  to  make  a  proposal,  on  the  part  of  Lord  North, 
that  Goldsmith  should  write  on  behalf  of  the  Ministry.  They 
found  him  in  chambers  in  the  Temple.  He  was  offered  any 
compensation  he  might  desire.  He  said  he  could  earn  from 
the  booksellers  as  much  as  his  necessities  required,  and  he 
would  rather  live  without  being  obliged  to  any  one.  Scott  told 
this  story  as  a  proof  of  Goldsmith's  ignorance  of  the  world. 

August  7th.  —  This  was  a  morning  of  disappointment.  I 

*  He  is  now  the  most  learned  of  the  Encrlish  Unitarians,  and  has  taken  the 
lead  in  the  free  investigation  of  the  Old  Testament,  presuming  to  apply  to  it, 
notwithstanding  its  sacred  character,  the  rules  of  profane  criticism.  He  has 
lately  retired  from  presiding  over  the  Manchester  College. — H.  C.  R.,  1851. 
H.  C.  R.  had  especially  in  view  Mr.  Kenrick's  work  on  Primeval  History. 

VOL.  I.  18 


410     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 


had  intended  to  do  my  best  in  defending  some  Lavenham  riot- 
ers for  bull-baiting,  but  Burr  cut  the  matter  short  by  asserting 
that,  though  bull-baiting  is  a  lawful  sport,  in  an  enclosure  of 
private  property,  it  could  not  be  tolerated  in  the  market-place 
of  a  town,  over  which  there  is  a  right  of  way.  I  endeavored 
to  contend  that,  if  the  bull-baiting  had  lasted  from  time  im- 
memorial, that  fact  must  modify  the  right  of  way.  I  consent- 
ed that  a  verdict  of  Guilty  should  be  entered,  on  an  engage- 
ment that  no  one  should  be  brought  up  for  judgment,  even  if 
the  riot  should  be  renewed  next  5th  November. 

August  10th.  —  On  the  evening  of  my  arrival  at  Norwich  I 
was  even  alarmed  at  the  quantity  of  business  there.  It  ex- 
ceeded, in  fact,  anything  I  ever  had  before.  I  had  during 
these  assizes  seventeen  briefs,  of  which  thirteen  were  in  causes.^ 
The  produce,  seventy-five  guineas,  including  retainers,  exclu- 
sive of  the  fee  of  an  arbitration.  This  raises  my  fees  on  the 
circuit  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  guineas,  a  sum  exceeding 
by  twenty-nine  guineas  the  utmost  I  ever  before  received.  Of 
these  causes  I  shall  mention  three  or  four  afterwards.  I  had 
one  consultation  this  evening  at  Sergeant  Blossett^s,  and  I  was 
engaged  the  rest  of  the  time  till  late  reading  briefs. 

August  29th,  Bem.f  —  This  day  commenced  a  valuable  ac- 
quaintance with  Mr.  Benecke,  of  whom  I  think  very  highly, 
as  among  the  most  remarkable  Germans  I  have  ever  known. 
I  had  received  a  letter  from  Poel  of  Altona,  introducing  to  me 
a  Miss  Reinhardt,  who  wished  to  establish  herself  in  England 
as  a  teacher  of  music.  She  was  on  a  visit  at  the  Beneckes'. 
I  called  on  her,  and  was  invited  to  dine  w^ith  them  soon  after, 
and  my  acquaintance  ripened  into  intimacy.  Benecke  was  a 
man  of  great  ability  in  various  departments ;  he  was  a  chem- 
ist, and  in  that  science  he  had  a  manufactory,  by  which  he 
lived.  He  had  been  engaged  as  the  conductor  of  an  insurance 
office  at  Hamburg,  and  wrote  an  elaborate  work  on  the  law 
of  insurance  in  German,  which  in  Germany  is  the  great  au- 
thority on  the  subject.  This  induced  him,  after  our  acquaint- 
ance, to  write  a  small  volume  on  the  law  of  insurance  in 
English,  which  I  saw  through  the  press.  There  was  absolute- 
ly nothing  to  correct  in  the  language.  The  book  did  not  sell, 
but  Lord  Tenterden  spoke  well  of  it  as  a  work  of  principle, 
and  allowed  it  to  be  dedicated  to  him.  But  these  were  merely 
works  and  pursuits  of  necessity.  He  w^as  a  philosopher,  and 
of  the  most  religious  character  :  he  professed  orthodoxy,  but 


*  That  is,  not  criminal  cases. 


t  Written  in  1851. 


1819.] 


THEOLOGICAL  SPECULATION. 


411 


he  would  not  have  been  tolerated  by  our  high-and-dry  ortho- 
dox. He  had  a  scheme  of  his  own,  of  which  the  foundation 
was  —  the  belief  in  the  pre-existence  of  every  human  being. 
His  speculation  was,  that  every  one  had  taken  part  in  the 
great  rebellion  in  a  former  state,  and  that  we  were  all  ulti- 
mately to  be  restored  to  the  Divine  favor.  This  doctrine  of 
final  restoration  was  the  redeeming  article  of  his  creed.  He 
professed  to  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and  when  I  put 
the  question  to  him,  he  said,  that  he  considered  that  doctrine 
as  the  most  essential  truth  of  religion ;  that  God  alone  with- 
out Christ  would  be  nothing  to  us  ;  Christ  is  the  copula  by 
means  of  whom  man  is  brought  to  God.  Otherwise,  the  idea 
of  God  would  be  what  the  Epicureans  deem  it,  —  a  mere  idle 
and  empty  notion.  I  believe  Benecke  was  first  led  to  think 
well  of  me  by  hearing  me  observe,  what  I  said  without  any 
notion  of  his  opinions,  that  an  immortality  a  parte  post  sup- 
posed a  like  immortality  a  p)a7^te  ante ;  and  that  I  could  not 
conceive  of  the  creation  in  time  of  an  imperishable  immortal 
being. 

September  IStli.  —  I  rode  to  London.  During  the  ride  I 
was  strikingly  reminded  of  the  great  improvement  of  the 
country  within  thirty  or  forty  years.  An  old  man,  on  the  box, 
pointed  out  to  me  a  spot  near  a  bridge  on  the  road,  where 
about  forty  years  ago  the  stage  was  turned  over  and  seven 
people  drowned ;  and  he  assured  me  that,  when  he  was  a  boy, 
the  road  beyond  Hounslow  was  literally  lined  with  gibbets,  on 
which  were,  in  irons,  the  carcasses  of  malefactors  blackening  in 
the  sun.  T  found  London  all  full  of  people,  collected  to  re- 
ceive Hunt  *  in  triumph,  and  accompany  him  to  the  Crown 
and  Anchor  to  a  dinner,  —  a  mere  rabble,  certainly,  but  it  is  a 
great  and  alarming  evil  that  the  rabble  should  be  the  leaders 
in  anything.  I  hear  that  when,  in  the  evening.  Hunt  came, 
the  crowds  were  immense,  and  flags  were  waved  over  him  with 

Liberty  or  Death  "  inscribed. 

September  22cL  —  I  called  on  Talfourd  for  a  short  time.  I 
dined  with  Collier  and  then  hastened  to  Flaxman's.  I  had  a 
very  pleasant  chat  with  him  and  Miss  Denman.t  He  related 
an  interesting  anecdote  of  Canova.  He  had  breakfasted  with 
Canova  at,  I  believe,  Mr.  Hope's,  and  then  examined  with  him 
the  marbles  and  antiques.    Among  them  was  a  beautiful  bust 

*  "  Orator"  Hunt,  the  Radical,  afterwards  M.  P.  for  Preston, 
t  ^liss  Denman  was  Mrs.  Flaxman's  sister,  and  Flaxman's  adopted  daughter, 
by  whom  the  Flaxman  Gallery  at  University  College  was  founded. 


412     REIMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 

of  Antoninus  Pius.  Flaxman  pointed  it  out  to  Canova,  on 
which  Canova,  without  answering  him,  muttered  to  himself, 
with  gestulations  of  impatience  :  I  told  him  so,  — I  told  him 
so,  —  but  he  would  never  take  counsel."  This  was  repeated 
several  times  in  a  fit  of  absence.  At  length  Flaxman  tapped 
him  on  the  shoulder  and  said  :  "  Whom  did  you  tell  so  ]  "  Of 
course,  the  conversation  was  in  Italian.  Receiving  no  reply, 
Flaxman  pressed  the  question.      Why,  Buonaparte,"  said  he. 

I  observed  to  him  repeatedly,  that  the  busts  of  Antoninus 
Pius  were  to  be  seen  everywhere  ;  they  were  to  be  found  in 
every  part  of  Italy  in  great  abundance,  he  had  made  himself  so 
beloved.  But  he  would  take  no  advice." —  And  did  you  expect 
him  to  take  any  1 "  said  Flaxman.  Canova  could  not  say  that 
he  did,  but  stated  that  the  courtiers  of  Buonaparte  were  often 
astonished  at  the  freedoms  he  took. 

Bern*  —  Flaxman  always  spoke  of  Canova  as  a  man  of  great 
moral  qualities,  of  which  I  believe  he  thought  more  highly 
than  of  his  character  as  an  artist. 

October  2d,  —  Colonel  D'Arcy  was  at  Masquerier's  this  even- 
ing, —  a  very  agreeable  man,  who  has  been  some  years  in 
Persia.  He  explained  to  us  the  meaning  of  the  signets  so  of- 
ten mentioned  in  the  Bible  and  Oriental  writings.  In  Persia 
every  man  has  three  seals  :  a  large  one,  with  which  he  testifies 
his  messages  to  an  inferior ;  a  small  one,  sent  to  a  superior ; 
and  a  middle-sized,  for  an  equal.  Every  man  has  about  him 
an  Indian-ink  preparation,  and,  instead  of  signing  his  name,  he 
sends  an  impression  of  his  seal,  as  a  proof  that  the  messenger 
comes  from  him.  Colonel  D'Arcy  speaks  Persian  fluently.  He 
says  it  is  a  simple  and  easy  language,  as  spoken,  but  the  writ- 
ten language  is  blended  with  the  Arabic,  and  is  make  complex 
and  difficult. 

October  12th.  —  I  took  an  early  breakfast,  and  a  little  after 
nine  was  in  the  King's  Bench,  Guildhall.  There  was  a  vast 
crowd  already  assembled  to  hear  the  trial  of  Carlile  for  blas- 
phemy, which  had  attracted  my  curiosity  also.  The  prosecu- 
tion was  for  republishing  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason."  The 
Attorney-General  opened  the  case  in  an  ordinary  way.  His 
pathos  did  not  seem  to  flow  from  him,  and  his  remarks  were 
neither  striking  nor  original.  Carlile  is  a  pale-faced,  flat-nosed 
man,  not  unlike  Schelling,  but  having  no  intellectual  resem- 
blance ;  though  he  has  shown  astonishing  powers  of  voice,  and 
a  faculty  of  enduring  fatigue  that  is  far  more  wonderful  than 

*  Written  in  1851. 


1819.] 


CAELILE  TRIED  FOR  BLASPHEMY. 


413 


enviable.  He  does  not  appear  in  any  respect  a  man  of  mind 
or  originality.  His  exordium  was  an  hour  long,  and  was  a 
mere  rhapsodical  defence.  His  chief  argument  was  derived  from 
the  late  Trinity  Bill,*  which,  said  he,  authorizes  any  one  to  at- 
tack the  Trinity  ;  and  there  being  no  statute  law  to  declare 
what  may  not  be  attacked,  anything  may.  He  attacked  the 
Attorney-General  t  as  an  ex-Unitarian,  and  was  both  pert  and 
insolent  in  the  matter,  though  not  in  the  manner.  He  then 
set  about  reading  the  Age  of  Eeason  "  through,  and  therefore 
I  left  him. 

October  IStli.  —  I  lounged  for  half  an  hour  into  Guildhall. 
I  found  Carlile  on  his  legs ;  he  had  been  speaking  without  in- 
terruption from  half  past  nine,  and  I  heard  him  at  half  past 
six,  with  no  apparent  diminution  of  force ;  but  he  merely  read 
from  paper,  and  whaft  he  said  seemed  very  little  to  the  purpose. 
He  attempted  a  parallel  between  his  case  and  Luther's,  and 
asserted  the  right  to  preach  Deism.  I  see  no  reason  why  he 
should  not  go  on  for  a  month  in  the  same  style. 

October  IJfth.  —  I  would  have  walked  with  H  to  hear 

some  part  of  Carlile's  trial,  but  it  was  just  over.  The  man 
had  been  speaking  for  near  three  days,  and  this  will  be  regard- 
ed by  many  people,  I  have  no  doubt,  as  a  proof  of  great  talent. 
He  was,  however,  convicted,  to  my  great  satisfaction. 

October  24th.  —  (At  Bury.)  I  heard  Mr.  Fenner  preach  in 
the  forenoon  to  about  twenty  persons.  How  our  sensations 
influence  our  thoughts  1  The  meeting-house  striking  my  eye, 
and  the  voice  of  my  old  preceptor  striking  my  ear,  I  was  made 
serious,  and  almost  melancholy. 

November  10th.  —  I  went  early  to  Sergeant  Frere's  chambers, 
3  King's  Bench  Walk,  and  agreed  for  a  fourteen  years'  lease 
of  them  from  next  midsummer,  at  seventy-five  guineas  per  an- 
num. These  chambers  consist  of  one  tolerably  sized  room ;  a 
second,  which  by  pulling  down  a  partition  may  be  made  into  a 
very  comfortable  room  ;  and  a  third  small  room,  which  may  be 
used  by  a  clerk;  three  fireplaces.  Between  the  two  larger 
rooms  is  a  small  room,  large  enough  to  place  a  bed  in,  and 
convenient  for  that  purpose  ;  there  is  also  a  dark  place,  in 
which  a  bed  has  been  placed  for  Frere's  clerk  and  his  wife,  be- 
sides one  or  two  lock-up  places.  The  chambers,  without  being 
excellent,  are  yet  good  for  their  price,  and  I  am  pleased  at  the 

*  "  An  Act  to  relieve  Persons  who  impugn  the  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity 
from  certain  Penalties."    This  was  commonly  called  Mr.  William  Smith's  Act. 
t  Gifford.   See  ante^  p.  358, 


414     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 


idea  of  occupying  them.  They  are  quite  light,  and  look  into 
a  garden,  and  the  staircase  is  handsome,  compared  with  my 
present  one. 

December  7th.  —  I  dined  at  the  Colliers',  and  then  took  tea 
with  Flaxman  tete-a-tete.  He  makes  religion  most  amiable  and 
respectable  at  the  same  time.  A  childlike  faith  is  delightful 
in  a  man  of  distinguished  genius.  He  spoke  of  his  fortune, 
and  without  ostentation  he  said  he  had  by  God's  providence 
prospered  ;  but  he  must  add  (what  he  would  say  to  few  but 
me),  that  no  man  who  had  worked  for  him  had  been  in  want, 
when  sick  or  dying. 

Rem.^  —  When  Flaxman  died,  his  effects  were  sworn  to  be 
worth  under  £4,000  ;  and  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  citing 
his  comparative  poverty  as  a  disgrace  to  the  country  ;  for 
while  he  died  worth  £  4,000,  Chantrey*  died  worth  above 
£  150,000.  Such  is  the  different  reward  for  genius  and  useful 
talent ! 

Decemher  9tlu  —  The  bills  now  passing  through  Parliament 
will  be,  I  fear,  sad  monuments  of  the  intemperance  of  the 
government  and  people.  Reformers  and  Ministry  alike  exag- 
gerate the  alarm  justly  to  be  feared  from  the  excesses  of  their 
adversary,  and  in  so  doing  furnish  a  reasonable  ground  for  a 
moderated  apprehension.  There  are  a  few  seditious  sj^irits  in 
the  country  who  would  raise  a  rebellion  if  they  could,  but 
they  cannot ;  and  there  are  some  among  the  Ministry,  perhaps, 
who  would  not  scruple  to  give  the  Crown  powers  fatal  to  the 
liberties  of  the  people.  But  neither  the  courts  of  law  nor  the 
people  (who  as  jurymen  concur  in  the  administration  of  the 
law)  would  assist  in  a  project  destructive  of  liberty;  nor  would 
the  Ministry  themselves  dare  make  a  violent  attempt.  At  the 
same  time,  the    Six  Acts"  are  objectionable. f 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  "  Papers  were  laid  before  Parliament  containing  evidence  of  the  state  of 
the  country,  which  were  immediately  followed  by  the  introduction  of  further 
measures  of  repression,  —  then  designated,  and  since  familiarly  known  as,  the 
*  Six  Acts.'  The  first  deprived  defendants,  in  cases  of  misdemeanor,  of  the 
right  of  traversing:  to  which  Lord  Holland  induced  the  Chancellor  to  add  a 
clause,  obliging  the  Attorney-General  to  bring  defendants  to  trial  within  twelve 
months.  By  a  second  it  was  proposed  to  enable  the  court,  on  the  conviction  of 
a  publisher  of  a  seditious  libel,  to  order  the  seizure  of  all  copies  of  the  libel  in 
his  possession;  and  to  punish  him,  on  a  second  conviction,  with  fine,  imprison- 
ment, banishment,  or  transportation.  By  a  third,  the  newspaper  stamp  duty 
■was  imposed  upon  pamphlets  and  other  papers  containing  news,  or  observations 
on  public  affairs;  and  recognizances  were  required  from  the  publishers  of 
newspapers  and  pamphlets  for  the  payment  of  any  penalty.  By  a  fourth,  no 
meeting  of  more  than  fifty  persons  was  permitted  to  be  held  without  six  days' 
notice  being  given  by  seven  householders  to  a  resident  justice  of  the  peace; 


1819.]  MISS  STEPHENS.  —  LISTON.  —  FARREN.  415 


December  15th.  —  I  spent  this  forenoon,  like  too  many  of 
the  preceding,  lonngingly.  I  called  on  Walter  after  being  at 
the  Book  Auction.  He  informed  me  of  what  I  never  knew 
before,  that  the  Times  was  prosecuted  once  for  a  libel  of  my 
writing ;  but  the  prosecution  was  dropped.  He  did  not  inform 
me  of  the  circumstance  at  the  time,  thinking,  probably,  the 
intelligence  would  pain  me.  I  do  not  know  whether  I  am  to 
consider  this  an  honor  or  not,  as  I  am  ignorant  whether 
the  libel  was  an  observation  on,  or  the  misstatement  of,  a 
fact. 

December  18th.  —  I  dined  at  Collier's,  and  then  went  to 
Covent  Garden.  I  had  rather  more  pleasure  than  usual.  The 
"  Comedy  of  Errors  "  is  better  to  see  than  read  :  besides,  a 
number  of  good  songs  by  Miss  Stephens  *  and  others  are  in- 
troduced. The  two  Dromios,  Liston  and  Farren,  though  not 
sufficiently  alike  (nor  did  they  strive  to  be  so,  for  neither  would 
adopt  the  other's  peculiarities),  afforded  amusement,  and  the 
incidents,  barring  the  improbability,  pass  off  pleasantly  enough. 
Some  fine  scenery  is  introduced,  though  out  of  character  and 
costume.  The  scene  is  in  Ephesus,  and  yet  one  of  the  paint- 
ings is  the  Piazza  of  Venice,  &c. 

December  25th.  —  Christmas  day.  I  spent  this  festival  not 
in  feasting,  but  very  agreeably,  for,  like  a  child,  I  was  delighted 
in  contemplating  my  new  toy.  I  was  the  whole  forenoon  oc- 
cupied, after  writing  some  of  the  preceding  Mems.,  in  collect- 
ing books,  &c.,  in  my  old,  and  in  arranging  them  in  my  new, 
chambers.  The  putting  in  order  is  a  delightful  occupation, 
and  is  at  least  analogous  to  a  virtue.  Virtue  is  the  love  of 
moral  order ;  and  taste,  and  cleanliness,  and  method  are  all 
connected  with  the  satisfaction  we  have  in  seeing  and  putting 
things  where  they  ought  to  be. 

and  all  but  freeholders  or  inhabitants  of  the  county,  parish,  or  township  were 
]:)rohibited  from  attending,  under  penalty  of  fine  and  imprisonment.  The 
justice  could  change  the  proposed  time  and  place  of  meeting:  but  no  meeting 
was  permitted  to  adjourn  itself.  Every  meeting  tending  to  incite  the  people  to 
hatred  and  contempt  of  the  King's  person  or  the  government  and  constitution 
of  the  realm  was  declared  an  unlawful  assembly ;  and  extraordinary  powers 
were  given  to  Justices  for  the  dispersion  of  such'^meetings  and  the  capture  of 
persons  addressing  them.  If  any  person  should  be  killed  or  injured  in  the 
dispersion  of  an  unlawful  meeting,  the  justice  was  indemnified.  Attending  a 
meeting  with  arms,  or  with  flags,  banners,  or  other  ensigns  or  emblems,  was  an 
offence  punishable  with  two  years'  imprisonment.  Lecture  and  debating  rooms 
were  to  be  licensed,  and  open  to  inspection.  By  a  fifth,  the  training  of  persons 
in  the  use  of  arms  was  prohibited;  and  by  a  sixth,  the  magistrates  in  the 
disturbed  counties  were  empowered  to  search  for  and  seize  arms."  —  May's 
Constitutional  History^  Vol.  II.  p.  p.  199,  200. 
*  Afterwards  Countess  of  Essex. 


416     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  22. 


December  26th.  —  I  read  the  trial  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  It 
is  quite  astonishing  that  the  understanding  and  the  courage 
of  men  could  be  so  debased  as  they  appear  to  have  been  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  YIII.  I  doubt  whether  the  legislation  of 
any  other  country  has  an  instance  of  an  enormity  so  gross  and 
absurd  as  that  of  rendering  it  a  capital  offence  to  refuse  an- 
swering a  question  :  yet  for  this  offence  the  Lord  Chancellor 
was  put  to  death,  —  a  man  of  incorruptible  integrity,  a 
martyr.  Yet  he  was  himself  a  persecutor,  having  superintend- 
ed the  infliction  of  torture. 

I  am  at  length  settled  in  my  new  chambers,  and  though  my 
books  are  not  yet  put  in  order,  I  have  a  comfortable  fire,  and  a 
far  more  pleasing  scene  from  my  window  and  within  my  room 
than  I  had  in  my  former  apartments. 

December  28th,  —  The  satisfaction  I  have  in  changing  my 
residence  is  accompanied  by  the  serious  reflection  that  I  can- 
not reasonably  expect  so  much  enjoyment,  and  such  uninter- 
rupted ease,  as  I  enjoyed  in  Essex  Court.  During  my  six 
years'  residence  there  I  have  not  once  been  kept  awake  at 
night  by  pain  of  mind  or  body,  nor  have  I  ever  sat  down  to  a 
meal  without  an  appetite.  My  income  is  now  much  larger 
than  it  was  when  I  entered  those  chambers,  and  my  health  is 
apparently  as  firm.  I  have  lost  no  one  source  of  felicity.  I 
have  made  accessions  to  my  stock  of  agreeable  companions,  if 
not  friends.  I  have  risen  in  respectability,  by  having  suc- 
ceeded to  a  certain  extent  in  my  profession,  though  perhaps 
not  so  greatly  as  some  of  my  friends  expected.  But  then  I 
have  growTi  six  years  older,  and  human  life  is  so  short  that 
this  is  a  large  portion.  This  reflection,  I  say,  is  a  serious  one, 
but  it  does  not  sadden  me. 

Rem.^  —  Let  me  add  merely  this,  —  that  I  believe  I  could 
have  written  the  same  in  1829.t  We  shall  see,  if  I  go  so  far 
in  these  Eeminiscences.    This  year  I  took  no  journey. 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  The  first  year  after  H.  C.  R.'s  retirement  from  the  bar. 


1820.] 


ELTON  HAMOm 


417 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 

ON  ELTON  HAMOND  [wiTH  NOTe]. 
1820. 

JANUARY  1st  —  No  New  Year  ever  opened  to  me  with  an 
event  so  tragical  as  that  which  occurred  this  morning.  Nor 
indeed  has  my  journal  contained  any  incident  so  melancholy. 

I  had  scarcely  begun  my  breakfast,  when  two  men,  plain  in 
dress  but  respectable  in  appearance,  called  on  me,  and  one  of 
them  said,  in  a  very  solemn  tone,  Pray,  sir,  do  you  know  a 
Mr.  Elton  Hamond  ]  "  —  "  Yes,  very  well."  — Was  he  a  par- 
ticular friend  of  yours  %  "  My  answer  was,  "  He  has  destroyed 
himself" 

Rem,^  —  I  have  heretofore  omitted  to  write  of  Hamond, 
postponing  till  this  awful  catastrophe  all  I  have  to  say  of  him. 
He  was  born  in  1786,  and  was  the  eldest  of  two  sons  of  a  tea- 
dealer  who  lived  in  the  city.  He  had  also  sisters.  His  father  died 
in  1807,  leaving  him  sole  executor ;  and  being  the  eldest,  —  at 
least  of  the  sons,  —  and  a  man  of  imposing  and  ingratiating 
manners,  he  was  looked  up  to  by  his  family.  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  him  through  the  Aikins,  —  I  cannot  say  pre- 
cisely tvhen^  but  soon  after  my  return  from  Germany.  His 
elder  sister  lived  many  years  with  Mrs.  Barbauld.  When  I 
first  visited  him  he  lived  in  Milk  Street,  where  his  father  had 
carried  on  the  business.  Some  time  afterwards  Hamond  told 
me  that  in  order  to  set  an  example  to  the  world  of  how  a  busi- 
ness should  be  carried  on,  and  that  he  might  not  be  inter- 
fered with  in  his  plans,  he  turned  off  the  clerks  and  every 
servant  in  the  establishment,  including  the  porter,  and  I  rath- 
er think  the  cook.  There  could  be  but  one  result.  The  busi- 
ness soon  had  to  be  given  up.  His  perfect  integrity  no  one 
doubted.  Indeed,  his  character  may  be  regarded  as  almost 
faultless,  with  the  exception  of  those  extravagances  which  may 
not  unreasonably  be  set  down  to  the  account  of  insanity. 
When  he  was  satisfied  that  he  was  right,  he  had  such  an  over- 
weening sense  of  his  own  judgment,  that  he  expected  every 
one  to  submit  to  his  decision ;  and  when  this  did  not  take 


*  Written  in  1851. 

18* 


AA 


418     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  23. 


place,  he  was  apt  to  consider  the  disobedience  as  criminal.  On 
this  account  he  broke  off  acquaintance  with  his  family  and 
nearly  all  his  friends. 

I  have  only  to  relate  some  illustrations,  which  will  be  found 
curious,  of  this  unhappy  state  of  mind.  When  he  was  about 
eleven  years  old,  he  said  to  his  sister,  "  Sister  Harriet,  who  is 
the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived  1  She  said,  "  Jesus  Christ." 
<  He  replied,  "  No  bad  answer,  —  but  I  shall  be  greater  than 
Jesus  Christ."  His  after-misery  lay  in  this,  that  while  he  had 
a  conviction  that  he  was  to  have  been,  and  ought  to  have  been, 
the  greatest  of  men,  he  was  conscious  that  in  fact  he  was  not. 
And  the  reason  assigned  by  him  for  putting  an  end  to  his  life 
was,  that  he  could  not  condescend  to  live  without  fulfilling  his 
proper  vocation. 

His  malady  lay  in  a  diseased  endeavor  to  obey  the  injunc- 
tion, NoscS  teipsum."  He  was  forever  writing  about  him- 
self. Hundreds  of  quarto  pages  do  I  possess,  all  full  of  him- 
self and  of  his  judgment  respecting  his  friends.  And  he  felt 
it  to  be  his  duty  to  make  his  unfavorable  opinion  known  to 
the  friends  themselves,  in  a  way  w^hich,  save  for  the  knowledge 
of  his  infirmity,  would  have  been  very  offensive.* 

In  the  anxious  pursuit  of  self-improvement,  he  sought  the 
acquaintance  of  eminent  men,  among  whom  were  Jeremy 
Bentham  and  his  brother.  General  Bentham,  James  Mill,  the 
historian  of  India,  and  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  governor  of  Java. 
On  Sir  Stamford  he  made  a  demand  of  the  most  ridiculous 
kind,  maintaining  that  as  Sir  Stamford  owed  everything  to 
his  father,  he.  Sir  Stamford  was  morally  bound  to  give  Ha- 
mond  one  half  of  what  he  acquired  in  his  office  as  governor. 
Sir  Stamford  gave  him  an  order  on  his  banker  for  £  1,000, 
which  Hamond  disdained  to  take.  He  went  to  Scotland  and 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Dugald  Stewart.  The  eminent  phi- 
losopher and  professor  wisely  advised  him  to  think  nothing 

*  As  an  instance  of  the  sort  of  authority  he  assumed  over  his  friends,  I  may- 
mention  that,  when  the  reduction  of  the  5  per  cent  stock  to  44  was  in  con- 
templation, I  had  entertained  an  opinion  in  favor  of  the  reduction,  on  which 
we  had  some  discussion.  In  a  few  days  he  wrote  me  a  letter,  saying  that  he 
deemed  my  opinion  so  mischievous,  that,  if  I  gave  any  publicity  to  it,  he  should 
he  obliged  to  renounce  my  further  acquaintance.  I  replied  that  I  honored  the 
firmness  with  which  on  all  occasions  he  did  what  he  deemed  right,  regardless 
of  all  consequences  to  himself,  but  that  he  must  allow  me  to  follow  his  ex- 
ample, and  act  on  my  own  sense  of  right,  —  not  his ;  and  that,  in  consequence, 
I  had  that  morning  sent  a  letter  to  the  Times  in  support  of  my  opinion. 
Whether  the  letter  appeared  I  do  not  know ;  but,  at  all  events,  what  I  wrote  to 
Ilamond  had  its  just  weight.  He  took  no  offence  at  my  resistance.  Nor  Avas 
lie  offended  at  the  course  I  took  on  account  of  my  suspicion  of  his  intention 
to  destroy  himself. 


1820.] 


ELTON  HAMOND. 


419 


about  himself,  which  poor  Elton  most  characteristically  misin- 
terpreted. He  wrote  in  his  diary  :  I  do  think  nothing  of 
myself,  —  I  know  that  I  am  nothing."  That  this  was  his  sin- 
cere opinion  is  shown  in  a  letter,  in  which,  recommending  his 
own  papers  to  Southey's  careful  perusal,  with  a  view  to  publi- 
cation, he  says  :  You  will  see  in  them  the  writings  of  a  man 
who  was  in  fact  nothing,  but  who  was  near  becoming  the 
greatest  that  ever  lived."  This  was  the  mad  thought  that 
haunted  him.  After  he  left  Milk  Street,  he  took  a  house  at 
Hampstead,  where  his  younger  sister  lived  with  him. 

At  the  time  of  my  first  acquaintance,  or  growing  intimacy 
with  Hamond,  Frederick  Pollock,  now  the  Lord  Chief  Baron, 
was  his  friend.  There  was  no  jealousy  in  Hamond's  nature, 
and  he  loved  Pollock  the  more  as  he  rose  in  reputation.  He 
wrote  in  his  journal  :  "  How  my  heart  burned  when  I  read  of 
the  high  degree  taken  by  Pollock  at  Cambridge  1 "  * 

In  1818  I  visited  him  at  Norwood,  where  I  found  him  lodg- 
ing in  a  cottage,  and  with  no  other  occupation  than  the  dan- 
gerous one  of  meditation  on  himself.  He  journalized  his  food, 
his  sleep,  his  dreams.  His  society  consisted  of  little  children, 
whom  he  was  fond  of  talking  to.  From  a  suspicion  that  had 
forced  itself  on  my  mind,  I  gave  him  notice  that  if  he  de- 
stroyed himself,  I  should  consider  myself  released  from  my 
undertaking  to  act  as  his  trustee.  I  think  it  probable  that 
this  caused  him  to  live  longer  than  he  would  otherwise  have 
done.  It  also  occasioned  his  application  to  Southey  to  take 
charge  of  his  papers.  One  of  Southey's  letters  to  him  was 
printed  in  the  poet's  life ;  unfortunately,  I  cannot  find  the 
other,  t  To  Anthony  Robinson,  to  whom  I  had  introduced 
him,  Hamond  said  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  making  a  dis- 
covery, which  would  put  an  end  to  physical  and  moral  evil  in 
the  world. 

In  justice  to  his  memory,  and  that  no  one  who  reads  this 
may  misapprehend  his  character,  I  ought  not  to  omit  adding, 
that  his  overweening  sense  of  his  own  powers  had  not  the  effect 
which  might  have  been  expected  on  his  demeanor  to  the  world 
at  large.  He  was  habitually  humble  and  shy,  towards  inferiors 
especially.   He  quarrelled  once  with  a  friend  (Pollock)$  for  not 

*  He  was  Senior  Wran^rler. 

t  The  other  has  been  "found  among  H.  C.  R.'s  papers;  and  both  are  con- 
tained in  the  Note  to  this  chapter. 

X  The  name  has  been  given  by  Sir  Frederick  Pollock  himself,  who  has  kindly 
looked  through  this  chapter  in  proof,  and  stated  some  details.  The  woman's 
burden  was  a  large  tray  to  be  carried  from  Blackfriars'  Bridge  to  the  Obelisk. 


420     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  23. 


being  willing  to  join  him  in  carrying  a  heavy  box  through  the 
streets  of  London  for  a  poor  woman.  His  generous  offer  of  an 
annuity  to  W.  Taylor,*  when  he  was  reduced  in  circumstances, 
has  been  made  known  in  the  Life  of  Taylor.  Eeference  has 
already  been  made  (p.  354)  to  his  refusal  of  a  private  secre- 
taryship to  a  colonial  chief  justice,  on  the  ground  of  the  ob- 
ligation involved  to  tell  a  lie  and  write  a  lie  every  day,  sub- 
scribing himself  the  humble  servant  of  people  he  did  not  serve, 
and  towards  whom  he  felt  no  humility.  Various  eligible  offers 
were  made  to  him,  but  rejected  for  reasons  which  made  it  too 
probable  that  he  could  be  brought  to  consent  to  nothing.  The 
impractical  notions  he  had  of  veracity  are  shown  in  an  inscrip- 
tion wTitten  by  him  for  his  father's  tombstone.  He  objected  to 
the  date  18 — ,  because,  unless  it  was  added,  of  the  Christian 
era,  no  one  could  know  in  which  era  his  father  had  lived.  His 
grossest  absurdities,  however,  had  often  a  basis  of  truth,  which 
it  was  not  difficult  to  detect.  I  conclude,  for  the  present,  with 
a  sentiment  that  leaves  an  impression  of  kindness  mingled  with 
pity  :  "  Had  I  two  thousand  a  year,  I  would  give  one  half  for 
birds  and  flowers." 

On  the  4th  of  January  the  coroner's  inquest  w^as  held  ]  Pol- 
lock and  I  attended.  We  did  not,  however,  offer  ourselves  as 
witnesses,  not  being  so  ready  as  others  were  to  declare  our  con- 
viction that  Elton  Hamond  was  insane.  To  those  who  thinh, 
this  is  always  a  difficult  question,  and  that  because  the  question 
of  sane  or  insane  must  always  be  considered  with  a  special  refer- 
ence to  the  relation  in  which  the  character,  as  well  as  the  act, 
is  viewed. 

The  neighbors  very  sincerely  declared  their  belief  in  Hamond's 
insanity,  and  related  anecdotes  of  absurdities  that  would  not 
have  weighed  with  wise  men.  We  did  not  fear  the  result,  and 
were  surprised  when  the  coroner  came  to  us  and  said:  "The 
jury  say  they  have  no  doubt  this  poor  gentleman  was  insane, 
but  they  have  heard  there  was  a  letter  addressed  to  them,  and 

"  It  was  on  a  Sunday,  I  think,  just  after  morning  church.  I  offered  to  join  in 
paying  one  or  two  porters  to  help  the  woman,  but  what  he  insisted  on  was  that 
we  should  ourselves  do  it."  Sir  Frederick  adds :  "  Hamond  had  in  the  highest 
degree  one  mark  of  insanity,  viz.  an  utter  disregard  of  the  opinion  of  all  the  rest 
of  the  world  on  any  point  on  which  he  had  made  up  his  own  mind.  He  was 
once  on  the  Grand  Jury  at  the  Old  Bailey,  and  presented  as  from  himself  alone 
(all  the  rest  of  the  jury  dissenting)  the  manner  in  which  the  witnesses  were 
sworn.  I  was  present,  and  became  from  that  moment  satisfied  that  he  was  in- 
sane." Hamond's  case  is  worth  recording;  it  was  not  a  commonplace 
malady."  ^ 

*  Of  Norwich.  Vide  "Memoir  of  William  Taylor  of  Norwich,"  Vol.  II. 
p.  357. 


1820.] 


ELTON  HAMOND. 


421 


they  insist  on  seeing  it."  On  this  I  went  into  the  room,  and  told 
the  jury  that  I  had  removed  the  letter,  in  order  that  they 
should  not  see  it.  This  at  first  seemed  to  offend  them,  but  I 
further  said  that  I  had  done  this  without  having  read  the 
letter.  It  had  been  sealed  and  given  to  relations,  who  would 
certainly  destroy  it  rather  than  allow  it  to  be  made  public.  I 
informed  them  of  the  fact  that  a  sister  of  Mr.  Hamond  had  died 
in  an  asylum,  and  mentioned  that  his  insanity  manifested  itself 
in  a  morbid  hostility  towards  some  of  his  relations.  I  reminded 
them  of  the  probability  that  any  letter  of  the  kind,  if  read  in 
public,  would  be  soon  in  the  papers ;  and  I  put  it  to  them,  as  a 
serious  question,  what  their  feelings  would  be  if  in  a  few  days 
they  heard  of  another  act  of  suicide.  The  words  were  scarcely 
out  of  my  mouth  before  there  was  a  cry  from  several  of  the 
jury,  "We  do  not  wish  to  see  it."  And  ultimately  the  verdict 
of  insanity  was  recorded.  The  coroner  supported  me  in  my  re- 
fusal to  produce  the  letter. 

Gooch  directed  a  cast  of  Hamond's  face  to  be  taken.  It  was 
one  of  the  handsomest  faces  I  ever  saw  in  a  cast.  Afterwards 
it  was  given  to  me,  and  I  gave  it  to  Hamond's  sister,  Harriet. 
The  same  man  who  took  this  mask,  an  Italian,  Gravelli,  took  a 
mask  of  a  living  friend,  who  complained  of  it  as  unsatisfactory. 
It  was,  in  truth,  not  prepossessing.  The  Italian  pettishly  said, 
"  You  should  be  dead  !  — you  should  be  dead !  " 

SOUTHEY  TO  H.  C.  R. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  shall  not  easily  get  your  letter  out  of  my 
thought.  Some  years  ago  I  dined  with  E.  H.  at  Gooch's,  and 
perfectly  remember  his  quiet  melancholy  and  meditative  man- 
ner. The  two  letters  which  he  addressed  to  me  respecting  his 
papers  were  very  ably  written,  and  excited-in  me  a  strong  inter- 
est. Of  course,  I  had  no  suspicion  who  the  writer  could  be  ; 
but  if  I  had  endeavored  to  trace  him  (which  probably  would 
have  been  done  had  I  been  in  town),  Gooch  is  the  person  whom 
I  should  have  thought  most  likely  to  have  helped  me  in  the  in- 
quiry. 

The  school  which  you  indicate  is  an  unhappy  one.  I  remem- 
ber seeing  a  purblind  man  at  Yarmouth  two-and-twenty  years 
ago,  who  seemed  to  carry  with  tim  a  contagion  of  such  opinions 
wherever  he  went.  Perhaps  you  may  have  known  him.  The 
morbific  matter  was  continually  oozing  out  of  him,  and  where 
it  passes  off  in  this  way,  or  can  be  exploded  in  paradoxes  and 
freaks  of  intellect,  as  by  William  Taylor,  the  destructive  effect 


422     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  23. 


"upon  the  heart  is  lessened  or  postponed.  But  when  it  meets 
with  strong  feeling,  and  an  introspective  introactive  mind,  the 
Aqua  Toftana  is  not  more  deadly. 

Respecting  the  papers,  I  can  only  say,  at  present,  that  I  will 
do  nothing  with  them  that  can  be  injurious  either  to  the  dead 
or  the  living.  When  I  receive  any  application  upon  the  sub- 
ject, I  shall  desire  them  to  be  deposited  at  my  brother's,  to 
await  my  arrival  in  town,  where  T  expect  to  be  early  in  March, 
and  to  continue  about  two  months,  some  ten  days  excepted  ; 
and  it  is  better  that  they  should  be  in  London,  where  I  can 
consult  with  you.  You  wall  see  by  the  letter  to  me  (which  I 
will  take  with  me  to  town)  what  his  wishes  were.  Consistently 
with  these  wishes,  with  his  honor,  and  with  the  feelings  of  his 
friends,  I  hope  it  may  be  possible  to  record  this  melancholy 
case  for  wholesome  instruction.  He  says  to  me  :  ^'  You  may 
perhaps  find  an  interest  in  making  a  fair  statement  of  opinions 
which  you  condemn,  when  quite  at  liberty,  as  you  would  be  in 
this  case,  to  controvert  them  in  the  same  page.  I  desire  no 
gilt  frame  for  my  picture,  and  if  by  the  side  of  it  you  like  to 
draw  another,  and  call  mine  a  Satyr  and  your  own  Hyperion, 
you  are  welcome.  A  true  light  is  all  that  I  require,  —  a  strong 
light  all  that  I  wish." 

Having  no  suspicion  of  his  intentions,  I  supposed  him  to  be 
in  the  last  stage  of  some  incurable  disease,  and  addressed  him 
as  one  upon  the  brink  of  the  grave.  If  one  of  the  pencil  read- 
ings which  you  have  transcribed  were  written  since  February 
last,  it  would  show  that  my  last  letter  had  made  some  impres- 
sion upon  him,  for  I  had  assured  him  of  my  belief  in  ghosts, 
and  rested  upon  it  as  one  proof  of  a  future  state.  There  was 
not  the  slightest  indication  of  insanity  in  his  anmmciation  to 
me,  and  there  was  an  expression  of  humility,  under  which  I 
should  never  have  suspected  that  so  very  different  a  feeling 
w^as  concealed.    God  help  us  !  frail  creatures  that  we  are. 

As  my  second  letter  was  not  noticed  by  him,  I  had  supposed 
that  it  was  received  with  displeasure,  and  perhaps  with  con- 
tempt. It  rather  surprises  me,  therefore,  that  he  should  have 
retained  the  intention  of  committing  his  papers  to  my  disposal, 
little  desirous  as  I  was  of  the  charge.  Nevertheless,  I  will 
execute  it  faithfully  ;  and  the  best  proof  that  I  can  give  of  a 
proper  feeling  upon  the  subject  is  to  do  nothing  without  con- 
sulting you. 

Believe  me,  dear  sir,  yours  with  much  esteem, 

Egbert  Southey. 

Keswick,  January  20. 


1820.] 


ELTON  HAMOND. 


423 


Southey  came  to  me  in  the  March  of  this  year,  when  he 
visited  London.  I  soon  satisfied  him  that  the  MSS.  had  no 
literary  value,  and  he  willingly  resigned  them  to  me.*  In  May 
of  this  year  I  wrote  :  "  The  more  I  read,  the  more  I  am  con- 
vinced that  they  contain  nothing  which  can  benefit  the  world. 
They  are  not  valuable  either  as  works  of  art  or  as  discoveries 
of  truth,  t  They  are  merely  manifestations  of  an  individual 
mind,  revealing  its  weaknesses."  Yet  I  must  qualify  this  by 
saying  that  Hamond  wrote  with  feeling,  and,  being  in  earnest, 
there  was  an  attractive  grace  in  his  style.  But  it  raised  an 
expectation  which  he  could  not  fulfil.  Southey  appears  to 
have  formed  a  high  opinion  of  him  ;  he  was,  however,  not 
aware  that,  though  Hamond  could  write  a  beautiful  sentence, 
he  was  incapable  of  continuous  thought.  Some  extracts  from 
Hamond's  letters  and  papers  I  mean  to  annex  to  these  Eemi- 
niscences  as  pieces  justijicatives. 


NOTE. 

The.  papers  now  in  the  hands  of  the  executors  consist  of,  —  (A),  "Life. 
Personal  Anecdotes.  Indications  of  Character."  (B),  "Letters  of  Farewell." 
(C),  "  Miscellaneous  Extracts."     (D),  "  Extracts -from  Journal,  &c."  (E), 

Extracts.  Scheme  of  Keforming  the  World,  &c."  (F),  "  On  Education, 
Character,  &c."  (G),  "Ethics."  Also  various  letters  by  E.  H.  and  others. 
Those  by  himself  include  the  long  one,  finished  only  a  few  minutes  before  his 
death.  Among  the  letters  from  others  to  him  are  several  by  Jeremy  Ben- 
tham  on  business  matters  (1809-1819)  and  a  larger  number  by  Maria  Edge- 
worth,  on  matters  of  personal  interest,  (1808-1811).  As  Mr.  Eobinson  did 
not  make  the  extracts  he  proposed,  the  following  are  given  as  among  the  most 
interesting:  — 

When  I  was  about  eight  or  ten  I  promised  marriage  to  a  wrinkled  cook  we 
had,  aged  about  sixty-five.  I  was  convinced  of  the  insignificance  of  beauty, 
but  really  felt  some  considerable  ease  at  hearing  of  her  death  about  four  years 
after,  when  I  began  to  repent  of  my  vow. 


I  always  said  that  I  would  do  anything  to  make  another  happy,  and  told  a 
boy  1  would  give  him  a  shilling  if  it  would  make  him  happy;  he  said  it  would, 
so  I  gave  it  him.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  I  had  plenty  of  such  ap- 
plications, and  soon  emptied  my  purse.  It  is  true  I  rather  grudged  the  money, 
because  the  boys  laughed  rather  more  than  I  wished  them.  But  it  would  have 
been  inconsistent  to  have  appeared  dissatisfied.  Some  of  them  were  generous 
enough  to  return  the  money,  and  I  was  prudent  enough  to  take  it,  though  I 
declared  that  if  it  would  make  them  happy  I  should  be  sorry  to  have  it  back 
again. 


*  These  MSS.  are  now  in  the  hands  of  H.  C.  R.'s  executors.  An  account  of 
them,  and  some  extracts,  will  be  found  in  a  Note  to  this  chapter. 

t  The  scheme  for  the  reformation  of  the  world  seems  to  consist  in  a  number 
of  moral  precepts,  and  has  in  it  no  originality. 


424     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  23. 


At  the  age  of  eighteen  I  used  to  amuse  myself  with  thinking  on  how  many 
followers  I  could  muster  on  a  state  emergency.  I  reckoned  Abbot,  Charles, 
Edward  Deacon,  Charles  Mills,  H.  Jeffreys,  ajid  the  Millers.  I  was  then  pro- 
fuse of  my  presents,  and  indifferent  to  my  comforts.  I  was  shabby  in  my  ap- 
pearance, loved  to  mix  with  the  lowest  mob,  and  was  sometimes  impatiently 
desirous  of  wealth  and  influence.  I  remembered  that  Caesar  walked  careless- 
ly and  part  drunken  along  the  streets,  and  I  felt  myself  a  future  Cassar.  The 
decencies  of  life  I  laughed  at.  I  was  proud  to  recollect  that  1  had  always  ex- 
pected to  be  great  since  I  was  twelve  years  old. 


I  cannot  remain  in  society  without  injuring  a  man  by  the  tricks  of  com- 
merce, or  the  force  which  the  laws  of  honor  sometimes  require.  I  must  quit 
it.  I  would  rather  undergo  twice  the  danger  from  beasts  and  ten  times  the 
danger  from  rocks.  It  is  not  pain,  it  is  not  death,  that  I  dread,  —  it  is  the  ha- 
tred of  a  man;  there  is  something  in  it  so  shocking  that  I  would  rather  submit 
to  any  injury  than  incur  or  increase  the  hatred  of  a  man  by  revenging  it;  and 
indeed  1  think  this  principle  is  pretty  general,  and  that,  as  Mr.  Reynolds  says; 
"  No,  I  don't  want  to  fight,  but  it  is  to  please  Mr.  Jenkins  and  Mr.  Tomkins 
that  I  must  fight." 


To  H.  C.  Robinson. 

Silver  Street,  20  October,  1813. 
My  dear  Robinson,  —  I  leave  you  all  my  papers,  with  entire  liberty  to 

f reserve,  destroy,  lend,  or  ptiblish  all  or  any  of  them  as  you  please ;  you  will, 
know,  take  care  that  no  one  suffers  unjustly  or  improperly  by  anything  that 
I  have  written  about  him.  There  are  passages  in  some  of  my  early  journals 
which  might,  I  think,  be  injurious  to  my  brother  in  a  manner  that  he  never  at 

all  merited.    Any  expressions  injurious  to    I  have  no  wish  that  you 

should  conceal;  in  general,  I  may  say  that  I  should  like  everybody  of  whom  I 
have  expressed  any  opinion  to  be  acquainted  with  it.  The  chief  philosophical 
value  of  my  papers  (most  of  them  utterly  worthless  in  every  other  respect)  I 
conceive  to  be  that  they  record  something  of  a  mind  that  was  very  near  taking 
a  station  far  above  all  that  have  hitherto  appeared  in  the  world.  Rely  upon 
this,  I  am  quite  certain  of  it,  that  nothing  but  my  sister  Harriet's  conifidence 
and  sympathy,*  and  such  things  as  are  easily  procured,  was  wanting  to  enable 
me  to  fulfil  my  early  and  frequent  vow  to  be  the  greatest  man  that  had  ever 
lived.  I  never  till  last  May  saw  my  course  clearly,  and  then  all  that  I  wanted 
to  qualify  me  for  it  I  was  refused."  I  leave  my  skull  to  any.craniologist  that 
you  can  prevail  upon  to  keep  it.  Farewell !  my  dear  friend ;  you  have  thought 
more  justly  of  me  than  anybody  has ;  maintain  your  sentiments ;  once  more, 
farewell !    I  embrace  you  with  all  my  heart. 

E.  Hamond. 


June  29th,  1817.  —  It  is  provoking  that  the  secret  of  rendering  man  perfect 
in  wisdom,  power,  virtue,  and  happiness  should  die  with  me.  I  never  till  this 
moment  doubted  that  some  other  person  would  discover  it,  but  I  now  recollect 
that,  when  I  have  relied  on  others,  I  have  always  been  disappointed.  Perhaps 
none  may  ever  discover  it,  and  the  human  race  has  lost  its  only  chance  of  eter- 
nal happiness. 


Another  sufficient  reason  for  suicide  is,  that  I  was  this  morning  out  of  tem- 
per with  Mrs.  Douglas  (for  no  fault  of  hers).    I  did  not  betray  myself  in  the 


*  She  would  have  been  willing  to  devote  her  life  to  him,  but  he  required  that 
she  should  implicitly  adopt  his  opinions.  —  H.  C.  R. 


1820.] 


ELTON  HAMOND. 


425 


least,  but  I  reflected  that  to  be  exposed  to  the  possibility  of  such  an  event  once 
a  year  was  evil  enough  to  render  life  intolerable.  The  disgrace  of  using  an 
impatient  word  is  to  me  overpowering. 


A  most  suflficient  reason  for  dying  is,  that  if  I  had  to  write  to  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock or  Mr.  Davey,  I  should  be  obliged  to  begin  "Dear  Sir,"  or  else  be  very 
uncomfortable  about  the  consequences.  I  am  obliged  to  compromise  with 
vice.  At  present  (this  is  another  matter),!  must  either  become  less  sensible  to 
the  odiousness  of  vice,  or  be  entirely  unfit  for  all  the  active  duties  of  life.  Re- 
ligion does  but  imperfectly  help  a  man  out  of  this  dilemma. 


SouTHEY  TO  Elton  ILv.]mond. 

Keswick,  5  February,  1819. 

Sir,  —  I  lose  no  time  in  replying  to  your  extraordinary  letter.  If,  as  you  say, 
the  language  of  your  papers  would  require  to  be  recast,  it  is  altogether  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  afford  time  for  such  an  undertaking.  But  the  style  of  your  letter 
leads  me  to  distrust  your  opinion  upon  this  point;  and  if  the  papers  are  writ- 
ten with  equal  perspicuity,  any  change  which  they  might  undergo  from  another 
hand  would  be  to  their  injury.  It  appears,  therefore,  to  me  that  they  would 
only  require  selection  and  arrangement. 

Now,  sir,  it  so  happens  that  I  have  works  in  preparation  of  great  magnitude, 
and  (unless  I  deceive  myself)  of  proportionate  importance.  And  there  must 
be  many  persons  capable  of  preparing  your  manuscripts  for  the  press,  who 
have  time  to  spare,  and  would  be  happy  in  obtaining  such  an  employment. 
There  may  possibly  also  be  another  reason  why  another  person  may  better  be 
applied  to  on  this  occasion.  The  difference  between  your  opinions  and  mine 
might  be  so  great,  that  I  could  not  with  satisfaction  or  propriety  become  the 
means  of  introducing  yours  to  the  public.  This  would  be  the  case  if  your  rea- 
sonings tended  to  confound  the  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong,  or  to 
shake  the  foundations  of  religious  belief.  And  yet  I  think  that  if  there  had 
been  a  great  gulf  between  us  you  would  hardly  have  thought  of  making  me 
your  editor.  Indeed,  if  there  had  not  been  something  in  your  letter  which 
seems  to  make  it  probable  that  I  should  feel  a  lively  interest  in  the  transcript 
of  your  thoughts  and  feelings,  my  answer  would  have  been  brief  and  decisive. 

I  should  like  to  see  a  specimen  ot  the  papers,  such  as  might  enable  me  to 
form  a  judgment  of  them;  more  than  this  I  cannot  say  at  present.  I  cannot 
but  admire  the  temper  of  your  letter.  You  are  looking  wisely  and  calmly  to- 
ward the  grave ;  allow  me'^to  add  a  fervent  hope  that  you  may  also  be  looking 
with  confidence  and  joy  beyond  it. 

Believe  me,  sir. 

Yours  with  respect, 

KOBERT  SoUTHEY. 


SoUTHEY  TO  ELTiON  HaMOND. 

Keswick,  2  March,  1819. 
Your  letter,  my  dear  sir,  affects  me  greatly.  It  represents  a  state  of  mind 
into  which  I  also  should  have  fallen  had  it  not  been  for  that  support  which  you 
are  not  disposed  to  think  necessary  for  the  soul  of  man.  I,  too,  identified  my 
own  hopes  with  hopes  for  mankind,  and  at  the  price  of  any  self-sacrifice  would 
have  promoted  the  good  of  my  fellow-creatures.  I,  too,  have  been  disappointed, 
in  being  undeceived;  but  having  learnt  to  temper  hope  with  patience,  and  when 
I  lift  up  my  spirit  to  its  Creator  and  Redeemer,  to  say,  not  witli  the  lips  alone 
but  with  the  heart.  Thy  will  be  done,  I  feel  that  whatever  afflictions  I  have 
endured  have  been  dispensed  to  me  in  mercy,  and  am  deeply  and  devoutly 
thankful  for  what  I  am,  and  what  I  am  to  be  when  I  shall  burst  my  shell. 


426     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  23. 


0  sir  !  religion  is  the  one  thing  needful,  —  without  it  no  one  can  be  truly 
happy :  (do  you  not  ftel  this  V)  with  it  no  one  can  be  entirely  miserable.  With- 
out it,  this  world  would  be  a  mystery  too  dreadful  to  be  borne,  our  best  affec- 
tions and  our  noblest  desires  a  mere  juggle  and  a  curse,  and  it  were  better, 
indeed,  to  be  nothing  than  the  things  we  are.  I  am  no  bigot.  I  believe  that 
men  will  be  judged  by  their  actions  and  intentions,  not  their  creeds.  I  am  a 
Christian,  and  so  will  Turk,  Jew,  and  Gentile  be  in  heaven,  if  they  have  lived 
well  according  to  the  light  which  was  vouchsafed  them.  I  do  not  fear  that 
there  will  be  a  great  gulf  between  you  and  me  in  the  world  which  we  must 
both  enter :  but  if  I  could  persuade  you  to  look  on  towards  that  world  with  the 
eyes  of  faith,  a  change  would  be  operated  in  all  your  views  and  feelings,  and 
hope  and  joy  and  love  would  be  with  you  to  your  last  breath,  —  universal  love, 
—  love  for  mankind,  and  for  the  Universal  Father  into  whose  hands  you  are 
about  to  render  up  your  spirit. 

That  the  natural  world  by  its  perfect  order  displays  evident  marks  of  design, 
I  think  you  would  readily  admit:  for  it  is  so  palpable,  that  it  can  only  be  dis- 
puted from  perverseness  or  aftectation.  Is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
the  moral  order  of  things  should  in  like  manner  be  coherent  and  harmonious  ? 
It  is  so,  if  there  be  a  state  of  retribution  after  death.  If  that  be  granted,  every- 
thing becomes  intelligible,  just,  beautiful,  and  good.  Would  you  not,  from  the 
sense  of  fitness  and  of  justice,  wish  that  it  should  be  so  ?  And  is  there  not 
enough  of  wisdom  and  of  power  apparent  in  the  creation  to  authorize  us  in  in- 
ferring, that  whatever  upon  the  grand  scale  would  be  best,  therefore  must  be? 
Pursue  this  feeling,  and  it  will  lead  you  to  the  Cross  of  Christ. 

1  never  fear  to  avow  my  belief  that  warnings  from  the  other  world  are  some- 
times communicated  to  us  in  this,  and  that  absurd  as  the  stories  of  appa- 
ritions generally  are,  they  are  not  always  false,  but  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead 
have  sometimes  been  permitted  to  appear.  I  believe  this  because  I  cannot 
refuse  my  assent  to  the  evidence  which  exists  of  such  things,  and  to  the  imi- 
versal  consent  of  all  men  who  have  not  learnt  to  think  otherwise.  Perhaps 
you  will  not  despise  this  as  a  mere  superstition  when  I  say  that  Kant,  the 
profoundest  thinker  of  modern  ages,  came  by  the  severest  reasoning  to  the 
same  conclusion.  But  if  these  things  are,  there  is  a  state  after  death;  and  if 
there  be  a  state  after  death,  it  is  reasonable  to  presume  that  such  things  should 
be. 

You  will  receive  this  as  it  is  meant.   It  is  hastily  and  earnestly  written,  — 
in  perfect  sincerity,  —  in  the  fulness  of  my  heart.   Would  to  God  that  it  might 
find  the  way  to  yours !    In  case  of  your  recovery,  it  would  reconcile  you  to 
life,  and  open  to  you  sources  of  happiness  to  which  you  are  a  stranger. 
But  whether  your  lot  be  for  life  or  death,  —  dear  sir, — 

God  bless  you ! 

Robert  Southey. 


To  Joseph  . 

Norwood,  31st  December,  7  oVlock,  1819. 

My  dear  Joseph,  — I  fear  that  my  late  letters  have  ofi'ended  and  perplexed 
you;  but  I  am  convinced  you  will  forgive  all  that  you  have  thought  amiss  in 
them,  and  in  the  author  of  them,  when  you  are  told  that  he  is  — don't  be 
shocked,  my  dear  Joseph  —  no  more.  >  I  am  somewhat  disturbed,  while  I  think 
of  the  pain  which  this  may  give  you,  as  I  shed  tears  over  my  poverty  when  I 
saAv  Pollock  cry  about  it,  although  it  was  not,  neither  is  the  present  moment, 
painful  to  me.  I  have  enjoyed  my  dinner,  and  been  saying  "good  by"  to 
my  poor  acquaintance  as  I  met  them,  and  running  along  by  moonlight  to  put 
a  letter  in  the  post-ofiice,  and  shall  be  comfortable  —  not  to  say  merry  —  to 
the  last,  if  I  don't  oppress  myself  with  farewell  letters,  of  which  I  have  sev- 
eral still  to  write.  I  have  much  indeed  to  be  grateful  to  you  for,  but  I  dare 
not  give  way  to  tender  feelings. 

Your  letters,  as  you  know,  will  be  offered  to  Southey,  with  all  my  other  pa- 
pers, to  do  the  best  he  can  and  chooses  with  

Good  by  to  you ! 

E.H. 


182.0.] 


ELTON  HAMOND. 


427 


To  H.  C.  R.,  UNDER  THE  NAME  OF  EOVISO. 

NoiiwooD,  31  December,  1819  (8  o'clock  in  the  evening). 

Dear  Roviso,  — I  am  stupefied  with  writing,  and  yet  I  cannot  go  my  long 
journey  without  taking  leave  of  one  from  whom  I  Inive  received  so  much  kind- 
ness, and  from  whose  society  so  much  delight.  My  place  is  booked  for  a 
passage  in  Charon's  boat  to-night  at  twelve.  Diana  kindly  consents  to  be  of 
the  party.  This  is  handsome  of  her.  She  was  not  looked  for  on  my  part. 
Perhaps  she  is  willing  to  acknowledge  my  obedience  to  her  laws  by  a  genteel 
compliment.  Good.  The  gods,  then,  are  grateful.  Let  me  imitate  their  ex- 
ample, and  thank  you  for  the  long,  long  list  of  kind  actions  that  I  know  of, 
and  many  more  which  I  don't  know  of,  but  believe  without  knowing. 

Go  on,' — be  as  merry  as  you  can.  If  you  can  be  religious,  good;  but  don't 
sink  the  man  in  the  Christian.  Bear  in'mind  what  you  know  to  be  the  just 
rights  of  a  fehow-creature,  and  don't  play  the  courtier  by  sacrificing  your  fel- 
low-subjects to  the  imaginary  King  of  heaven  and  earth.  I  say  imaginary,  — 
because  he  is  known  only  by  the  imagination.  He  may  have  a  real  existence. 
I  would  rather  he  had.  I  have  very  little  hopes  of  my  own  future  fate,  but  I 
have  less  fear.  In  truth,  I  give  myself  no  concern  about  it,  —  why  should  I? 
why  fumble  all  through  the  dictionary  for  a  word  that  is  not  there? 

But  I  have  some  more  good-bys  to  say. 

I  have  left  a  speech  for  the  gentlemen  of  the  inquest.  Perhaps  the  driver  of 
the  coach  may  be  able  to  tell  you  what  is  going  on.  On  IMonday  my  landlord, 
Mr.  Williams,  of  the  Secretary's  Office,  E.  I.  House,  will  probably  be  in  town 
at  a  little  after  nine.  jMind  you  don't  get  yourself  into  a  scrape  by  making  an 
over-zealous  speech  if  you  attend  as  my  counsel.  You  may  say  throughout, 
"  The  culprit's  defence  is  this."  Bear  in  mind,  that  I  had  rather  be  thrown  in 
a  ditch  than  have  a  disingenuous  defence  made. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  troubling  you  with  the  enclosed.  The  request  it  con- 
tains is  the  last  trouble  I  shall  ask'  of  you.    Once  more,  good  by ! 

Yours  gratefully  and  affectionately, 

Elton  Hamond. 


To  THE  Coroner  and  the  Gentlemen  who  will  sit  on  my  Body. 

Norwood,  31st  December,  1819. 
Gentlemen,  —  To  the  charge  of  self-murder  I  plead  not  guilty.  For  there 
is  no  guilt  in  what  I  have  done.  Self-murder  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  If 
the  king  who  retires  from  his  throne  is  guilty  of  high  treason;  if  the  man  who 
takes  money  out  of  his  own  coffers  and  spends  it  is  a  thief ;  if  he  who  burns 
his  own  hayrick  is  guilty  of  arson;  or  he  who  scourges  himself  of  assault  and 
battery,  then  he  who  throws  up  his  own  life  may  be  guilty  of  murder,  —  if  not, 
not. 

If  anything  is  a  man's  own,  it  is  surely  his  life.  Far,  however,  be  it  from  me 
to  say  that  a  man  may  do  as  he  pleases  with  his  own.  Of  all  that  he  has  he  is 
a  steward.  Kingdoms,  money,  harvests,  are  held  in  trust,  and  so,  but  I  think 
less  strictly,  is  life  itself.  Life  is  rather  the  stewardship  than  the  talent.  The 
king  who  resigns  his  crown  to  one  less  fit  to  rule  is  guilty,  though  not  of  high 
treason;  the  spendthrift  is  gnilty,  though  not  of  theft;  the  wanton  burner  of 
his  hayrick  is  guilty,  though  not  of  arson;  the  suicide  who  could  have  per- 
formed the  duties  of  his  station  is  perhaps  guilty,  though  not  of  murder,  not  of 
felony.  They  are  all  guilty  of  neglect  of  duty,  and  all,  except  the  suicide,  of 
breach  of  trust.  But  1  cannot  perform  the  duties  of  my  station.  He  who 
wastes  his  life  in  idleness  is  gnilty  of  a  breacli  of  trust;  he  who  puts  an  end 
to  it  resigns  his  trust,  — a  trust  that  was  forced  upon  him,  —  a  trust  which  I 
never  accepted,  and  probably  never  would  have  accepted.  Is  this  felony  ?  I 
smile  at  the  ridiculous  supposition.  How  we  came  by  the  foolish  law  which 
considers  suicide  as  felony  I  don't  know;  I  find  no  warrant  for  it  in  Philoso- 
phy or  Scripture.  It  is  worthy  of  the  times  when  heresy  and  apostacy  were 
capital  ofiences ;  when  offences  were  tried  by  battle,  ordeal,  or  expurgation ; 


428     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


when  the  fine  for  slaying  a  man  was  so  many  shillmgs,  and  that  for  slaymg  an 
ass  a  few  more  or  less. 

Every  old  institution  will  find  its  vindicators  while  it  remains  in  practice. 
I  am  an  enemy  to  all  hasty  reform,  but  so  foolish  a  law  as  this  should  be  put 
an  end  to.  Does  it  become  a  jury  to  disregard  it  ?  For  juries  to  disregard  their 
oaths  for  the  sake  of  justice  is,  as  you  probably  know,  a  frequent  practice. 
The  law  places  them  sometimes  in  the  cruel  predicament  of  having  to  chooser 
between  perjury  and  injustice:  whether  they  do  right  to  prefer  perjury,  as  the 
less  evil,  I  am  not  sure.  I  would  rather  be  thrown  naked  into  a  hole  in  the  road 
than  that  you  should  act  against  your  consciences.  But  if  you  wish  to  acquit 
me,  I  cannot  see  that  your  calling  my  death  accidental,  or  the  effect  of  insanity, 
would  be  less  criminal  than  a  jury's  finding  a  £  10  Bank-of-England  note  worth 
thirty-nine  shillings,  or  premeditated  slaying  in  a  duel  simple  manslaughter, 
both  of  which  have  been  done.  But  should  you  think  this  too  bold  a  course, 
is  it  less  bold  to  find  me  guilty  of  being  fdo  de  se  when  I  am  not  guilty  at  all,  as 
there  is  no  guilt  in  what  1  have  done  V  I  disdain  to  take  advantage  of  my  situa- 
tion as  culprit  to  mislead  your  understandings,  but  if  you,  in  your  consciences, 
think  premeditated  suicide  no  felony,  will  you,  upon  your  oaths,  convict  me 
of  felony  V  Let  me  suggest  the  following  verdict,  as  combining  liberal  truth 
with  justice:  "  Died  by  his  own  hand,  but  not  feloniously."  If  I  have  ofiend- 
ed  God,  it  is  for  God,  not  you,  to  inquire.  Especial  public  duties  I  have  none. 
If  I  have  deserted  any  engagement  in  society,  let  the  parties  aggrieved  consign 
my  name  to  obloquy.  I  have  for  nearly  seven  years  been  disentangling  myself 
from  all  my  engagements,  that  I  might  at  last  be  free  to  retire  from  life.  1  am 
free  to-day,  and  avail  myself  of  my  liberty.  I  cannot  be  a  good  man,  and 
prefer  death  to  being  a  bad  one,  —  as  bad  as  I  have  been  and  as  others  are. 

I  take  my  leave  of  you  and  of  my  country  condemning  you  all,  yet  with  true 
honest  love.  What  man,  alive  to  virtue,  can  bear  the  ways  of  the'best  of  you  ? 
Not  I,  you  are  wrong  altogether.  If  a  new  and  better  light  appears,  seek  it; 
in  the  mean  time,  look  out  for  it.   God  bless  you  all ! 


EBRUARY  6th — Mrs.  Flaxman  died.    A  woman  of 


great  merit,  and  an  iiTeparable  loss  to  her  husband. 
He,  a  genius  of  the  first  rank,  is  a  very  child  in  the  concerns 
of  life.  She  was  a  woman  of  strong  sense,  and  a  woman  of 
business  too,  —  the  very  wife  for  an  artist.  Without  her,  he 
would  not  have  been  able  to  manage  his  household  affairs 
early  in  life.  Noiu,  his  sister  and  the  youngest  sister  of  his 
wife  will  do  this  for  him. 

February  19th.  —  Went  to  Drury  Lane  for  the  first  time 
this  season.  I  was  better  pleased  than  usual.  Though  Bra- 
ham  is  growing  old,  he  has  lost  none  of  his  fascination  in  sing- 
ing two  or  three  magnificent  songs  in  The  Siege  of  Belgrade." 
But  he  shared  my  admiration  with  a  new  actress,  or  rather 
singer,  who  will  become,  I  have  no  doubt,  a  great  favorite  with 
the  public,  —  a  Madame  Yestris.    She  is  by  birth  English, 


Elton  Hamond. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


1820.] 


FLAXMAN. — MADAME  DE  STAEL. 


429 


and  her  articulation  is  not  that  of  a  foreigner ;  but  her  looks, 
walk,  and  gesticulations  are  so  very  French,  that  I  almost 
thought  myself  in  some  Parisian  theatre.  She  has  great  feel- 
ing and  naivete  in  her  acting,  and  I  am  told  is  a  capital  singer. 
1  know  that  she  delighted  me. 

March  Jftli,  —  Took  tea  at  Flaxman's.  I  had  not  seen  him 
since  his  loss.  There  was  an  unusual  tenderness  in  his  man- 
ner. He  insisted  on  making  me  a  present  of  several  books, 
Dante's  Penitential  Psalms  and  [a  blank  in  the  Diary],  both 
in  Italian,  and  Erasmus's  Dialogues,  as  if  he  thought  he  might 
be  suddenly  taken  away,  and  wished  me  to  have  some  memo- 
rial of  him.  The  visit,  on  the  whole,  was  a  comfortable  one. 
I  then  sat  an  hour  with  Miss  Yardill,  who  related  an  interest- 
ing anecdote  of  Madame  de  Stael.  A  country  girl,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  clerg3^man,  had  accidentally  met  with  an  English 
translation  of  Delphine  "  and  Corinne,"  which  so  powerful- 
ly affected  her  in  her  secluded  life  as  quite  to  turn  her  brain. 
And  hearing  that  Madame  de  Stael  was  in  London,  she  wrote 
to  her,  offering  to  become  her  attendant  or  amanuensis.  Ma- 
dame de  Stael's  secretary,  in  a  formal  answer,  declined  the 
proposal.  But  her  admirer  was  so  intent  on  being  in  her  ser- 
vice in  some  way,  that  she  came  up  to  London,  and  stayed  a 
few  days  with  a  friend,  who  took  her  to  the  great  novelist,  and, 
speaking  in  French,  gave  a  hint  of  the  young  girl's  mind. 
Madame  de  Stael,  with  great  promptitude  and  kindness,  ad- 
ministered the  only  remedy  that  was  likely  to  be  effectual. 
The  girl  almost  threw  herself  at  her  feet,  and  earnestly  begged 
to  be  received  by  her.  The  Baroness  very  kindly,  but  deci- 
dedly, remonstrated  with  her  on  the  folly  of  her  desire.  "  You 
may  think,"  she  said,  it  is  an  enviable  lot  to  travel  over  Eu- 
rope, and  see  all  that  is  most  beautiful  and  distinguished  in 
the  world  ;  but  the  joys  of  home  are  more  solid  ;  domestic 
life  affords  more  permanent  happiness  than  any  that  fame  can 
give.  You  have  a  father,  —  I  have  none.  You  have  a  home, 
—  I  was  led  to  travel  because  I  was  driven  from  mine.  Be 
content  with  your  lot ;  if  you  knew  mine,  you  would  not  de- 
sire it."  With  such  admonitions  she  dismissed  the  petitioner. 
The  cure  was  complete.  The  yoimg  woman  returned  to  her 
father,  became  more  steadily  industrious,  and  without  ever 
speaking  of  her  adventure  with  Madame  de  Stael,  silently 
profited  by  it.  She  is  now  living  a  life  of  great  respectability, 
and  her  friends  consider  that  her  cure  was*  wrought  by  the 
only  hand  by  which  it  could  have  been  effected. 


430     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 

March  7th.  —  Dined  with  the  Judge  (Graham).  Among  the 
most  eminent  judges  of  the  last  generation  was  Mr.  Justice 
B idler.  He  and  Baron  Graham  were  of  the  same  standing  at 
College.  Graham  said  to-daj,  that  though  Buller  was  a  great 
lawyer,  he  was  ignorant  on  every  subject  but  law.  He  actu- 
ally believed  in  the  obsolete  theory  that  our  earth  is  the  centre 
of  the  universe. 

April  7th,  —  Arrived  at  Bury  before  tea.  My  brother  and 
sister  were  going  to  hear  an  astronomical  lecture.  I  stayed 
alone  and  read  a  chapter  in  Gibbon  on  the  early  history  of  the 
Germans.  Having  previously  read  the  first  two  lectures  of 
Schlegel,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  comparison,  and  I  found  much 
in  Gibbon  that  I  had  thought  original  in  Schlegel.  Their 
views  differ  slightly  ;  for  the  most  part  in  the  higher  character 
given  by  Schlegel  to  the  Germans,  the  correctness  of  which  I . 
had  doubted.  It  seems  absurd  to  ascribe  great  effects  to  the 
enthusiastic  love  of  nature  by  a  people  otherwise  so  low  in 
civilization.  But  probably  he  is  justified  in  the  opinion  that 
the  Goths  were  to  no  great  degree  the  bringers  of  barbarism. 
He  considers  them  the  great  agents  in  the  renovation  of  so- 
ciety. 

April  26th.  —  An  invitation  from  Aders  to  join  him  in  one 
of  the  orchestra  private  boxes  at  Drury  Lane.  There  was 
novelty  in  the  situation.  The  ease  and  comfort  of  being  able 
to  stand,  sit,  or  loll,  have  rather  the  effect  of  indisposing  the 
mind  to  that  close  attention  to  the  performance  which  is  neces- 
sary to  full  enjoyment.  Kean  delighted  me  much  in  Lear, 
though  the  critics  are  not  satisfied  with  him.  His  representa- 
tion of  imbecile  age  was  admirable.  In  the  famous  imprecation 
scene  he  produced  astonishing  effect  by  his  manner  of  bringing 
out  the  words  with  the  effort  of  a  man  nearly  exhausted  and 
breathless,  rather  spelling  his  syllables  than  forming  them  into 
words.  "  How  sharp-er-than-a-serp-ent's-tooth-it-is,"  &c.,  &c. 
His  exhibition  of  madness  was  always  exquisite.  Kean's  de- 
fects are  lost  in  this  character,  and  become  almost  virtues.  He 
does  not  need  vigor  or  grace  as  Lear,  but  passion,  —  and  this 
never  fails  him.  The  play  was  tolerably  cast.  Mrs.  W.  West 
is  an  interesting  Cordelia,  though  a  moderate  actress.  And  Bae 
is  a  respectable  Edgar.     I  alone  remained  of  the  party  to  see 

The  King  and  the  Miller  (of  Mansfield)."  But  I  heard 
scarcely  any  part,  for  the  health  of  the  King  being  drunk,  a 
fellow  cried  out  from  the  shilling  gallery,  ''The  Queen!" 
The  allusion  was  caught  up,  and  not  a  word  was  heard  after- 


1820.] 


WORDSWORTH.  —  PORTRAIT  EXHIBITION.  431 


wards.  The  cries  for  the  health  of  the  Queen  were  uttered 
from  all  quarters,  and  as  this  demand  could  not  be  complied 
with,  not  a  syllable  more  of  the  farce  was  audible. 

June  2d,  —  At  nine  I  went  to  Lamb's,  where  I  found  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Wordsworth.  Lamb  was  in  a  good  humor.  He  read  some 
recent  compositions,  which  Wordsworth  cordially  praised. 
Wordsworth  seemed  to  enjoy  Lamb's  society.  Not  much  was 
said  about  his  own  new  volume  of  poems.  He  himself  spoke 
of  "  The  Brownie's  Cell "  *  as  his  favorite.  It  appears  that  he 
had  heard  of  a  recluse  living  on  the  island  when  there  himself, 
and  afterwards  of  his  being  gone,  no  one  knew  whither,  and  that 
this  is  the  fact  on  which  the  poem  is  founded. 

June  11th.  —  Breakfasted  with  Monkhouse.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wordsworth  there.  He  has  resolved  to  make  some  concessions 
to  public  taste  in  Peter  Bell."  Several  offensive  passages  will 
be  struck  out,  such  as,  Is  it  a  party  in  a  parlor,"  &c.,  which  I 
implored  him  to  omit  before  the  book  first  appeared.  Also  the 
over-coarse  expressions,  "  But  I  will  bang  your  bones,"  &c.  I 
never  before  saw  him  so  ready  to  yield  to  the  opinion  of  others. 
He  is  improved  not  a  little  by  this  in  my  mind.  We  talked  of 
Haydon.  Wordsworth  wants  to  have  a  large  sum  raised  to  en- 
able Haydon  to  continue  in  his  profession.  He  wants  £  2,000 
for  his  great  picture.  The  gross  produce  of  the  exhibition  is 
£l,200.t 

Jime  19th,  —  Went  to  the  British  Gallery,  where  a  collection 
of  English  portraits  was  exhibited.  %    Very  interesting,  both  as 

*  Vol.  III.  p.  44.    Edition  1857. 

t  Haydon  exhibited  bis  great  picture  of  "  Christ's  Entry  into  Jerusalem  "  at 
the  Egyptian  Hall,  in  Piccadilly.  It  was  opened  to  the  public  March  27th. 
Wordsworth's  face  was  introduced,  "  A  Bowing  Head  " ;  also  "  Newton's  Face 
of  Belief,"  and  "  Voltaire's  Sneer."  The  exhibition  continued  open  till 
November,  by  which  time  £1,547  8  s.  had  been  received  in  shillings  at  the 
doors,  and  £212  19  s.  Qd.  paid  for  sixpenny  catalogues.  The  picture  is  now  in 
America.  During  the  exhibition  in  London  a  gentleman  asked  if  £  1,000  would 
buy  it,  and  was  told,  "  No."  —  Autobiography  of  Haydon^  Vol.  I.  p.  337. 

X  This  very  interesting  exhibition,  and  the  first  of  its  kind,  was  opened  in 
]\Iay  of  this  year  at  the  British  Institution,  Pall  Mall.  It  comprised  183 
portraits  of  the  most  eminent  historical  characters,  almost  entirely  British,  and 
the  catalogue,  with  a  well-considered  preface,  contained  biographical  accounts 
of  the  persons  represented.  In  the  year  1846  another  portrait  exhibition  was 
held  at  the  same  institution,  but  not  with  commensurate  success.  The  pictures 
then  amounted  to  215  in  number,  and  the  catalogue  was  destitute  of  biograph- 
ical notices.  A  more  extensive  and  extremely  well-organized  collection  of 
national  portraits  formed  part  of  the  great  Art-Treasures  Exhibition  at  Man- 
chester, in  1857.  These,  exclusive  of  many  choice  portraits  in  other  depart- 
ments of  the  Exliibition,  amounted  to  386.  IMany  of  these  paintings  were  of 
considerable  size.  These  portrait  gatherings  have,  however,  been  for  dis- 
tanced by  the  successive  exhibitions  of  national  portraits,  under  government 
auspices,  at  South  Kensington,  which  extended  over  the  last  three  years,  and 


432     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


works  of  art  and  as  memorials  of  eminent  persons.  Certainly 
such  a  gallery  is  calculated  to  raise  a  passion  for  biography, 
though  some  of  the  portraits  rather  tend  to  produce  historical 
scepticism  than  to  confirm  the  impressions  which  have  been 
handed  down  to  us.  I  was  really  displeased  to  see  the  name 
of  the  hated  Jeffreys  put  to  a  dignified  and  sweet  countenance, 
that  might  have  conferred  new  grace  on  some  delightful  charac- 
ter. This,  however,  was  the  most  offensive  violation  of  prob- 
ability. 

June  21st.  — After  taking  tea  at  home  I  called  at  Monk- 
house's,  and  spent  an  agreeable  evening.  Wordsworth  was 
very  pleasant.  Indeed  he  is  uniformly  so  now.  And  there  is 
absolutely  no  pretence  for  whkt  was  always  an  exaggerated 
charge  against  him,  that  he  could  talk  only  of  his  own  poetry, 
and  loves  only  his  own  works.  He  is  more  indulgent  than  he 
■used  to  be  of  the  works  of  others,  even  contemporaries  and 
rivals,  and  is  more  open  to  arguments  in  favor  of  changes  in 
his  own  poems.  Lamb  was  in  excellent  spirits.  Talfourd 
came  in  late,  and  we  stayed  till  past  twelve.  Lamb  was  at 
last  rather  overcome,  though  it  produced  nothing  but  humor- 
ous expressions  of  his  desire  to  go  on  the  Continent.  I  should 
delight  to  accompany  him. 

Jime  2Jftli.  —  Took  Miss  Wordsworth  to  the  British  Gallery. 
A  second  contemplation  of  these  historic  portraits  certainly  adds 
to  their  effect.  To-day  there  was  an  incident  which  somewhat 
gratified  me.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  there,  and  I  saw 
him  looking  at  the  portrait  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough.  A 
lady  was  by  his  side.  She  pointed  to  the  picture,  and  he 
smiled.  Whether  the  compliment  was  to  his  person  or  to  his 
military  glory  I  cannot  tell.  Though  Marlborough  has  the 
reputation  of  having  been  as  distinguished  in  the  ball-room  as 
in  the  field  of  battle,  the  portrait  is  neither  beautiful  nor  in- 
teresting. The  Duke  of  Wellington's  face  is  not  flexible  or 
subtle,  but  it  is  martial,  that  is,  sturdy  and  firm.  I  liked  him 
in  dishabille  better  than  in  his  robes  at  the  chapel  of  his  palace 
in  the  Rue  St.  Honore. 

June  27th.  —  Went  to  Lamb's,  found  the  Wordsworths  there, 
and  having  walked  with  them  to  Westminster  Bridge,  returned 

combined  in  the  aggregate  no  fewer  than  2,846  pictures.  The  greater  part  of 
these  portraits  were  of  the  highest  authenticity,  and  the  catalogues  were  re- 
markable both  for  the  conciseness  and  comprehensiveness  of  the  information 
which  they  afforded.  Mr.  Robinson's  words  in  the  text  above  have  been 
signally  verified.  The  portrait  of  Lord  Chancellor  Jeffreys  was  painted  by 
Riley,  and  contributed  by  the  Earl  of  Winchelsea.  That  of  John,  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  was  by  Krieller,  and  contributed  by  the  Marquis  of  Stafford. 


1820.]  SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH.  433 

to  Lamb's,  and  sat  an  hour  with  Macready,  a  very  pleasing  man, 
gentlemanly  in  his  manners,  and  sensible  and  well  informed. 

July  8th.  —  I  rode  early  (from  Hadleigh)  to  Needham  in  a 
post-chaise,  to  be  taken  on  by  the  Ipswich  coach  to  Bury.  I 
had  an  agreeable  ride,  and  was  amused  by  perusing  Gray's 
letters  on  the  Continent,  published  by  Mason.*  His  familiar 
epistolary  style  is  quite  delightful,  and  his  taste  delicate  with- 
out being  fastidious.  I  should  gladly  follow  him  anywhere,  for 
the  sake  of  remarking  the  objects  he  was  struck  by,  but  I  fear 
I  shall  not  have  it  in  my  power  this  year. 

July  18th»  —  (At  Cambridge  on  circuit.)  After  a  day's 
work  at  Huntingdon,  I  had  just  settled  for  the  evening,  when 
I  was  agreeably  surprised  by  a  call  from  Miss  Lamb.  I  was 
heartily  glad  to  see  her,  and,  accompanying  her  to  her  brother's 
lodgings,  I  had  a  very  pleasant  rubber  of  whist  with  them  and 
a  Mrs.  Smith.    An  acceptable  relief  from  circuit  society. 

July  20th.  —  I  had  nothing  to  do  to-day,  and  therefore  had 
leisure  to  accompany  Lamb  and  his  sister  on  a  walk  behind 
the  colleges.  All  Lamb's  enjoyments  are  so  pure  and  so  hearty, 
that  it  is  an  enjoyment  to  see  him  enjoy.  We  walked  about 
the  exquisite  chapel  and  the  gardens  of  Trinity. 

July  SI  sty  August  1st.  —  It  is  now  broad  daylight,  and  I 
have  not  been  to  bed.  I  recollected  Lord  Bacon's  recommen- 
dation of  occasional  deviation  from  regular  habits,  and  though 
I  feel  myself  very  tired  (after  making  preparations  for  my  jour- 
ney on  the  Continent),  and  even  sleepy  at  half  past  four,  yet  I 
shall  recover,  I  trust,  in  the  course  of  the  day. 

Swiss  Tour  with  the  Wordsworths. 

Rem.'\  —  This  account  of  my  first  tour  in  Switzerland  may 
not  improperly  be  compared  to  the  often-cited  performance  of 
"  Hamlet,"  with  the  character  of  Hamlet  left  out.  The  fact 
being  that  every  place  in  Switzerland  is  known  to  every  one, 
or  may  be,  from  the  innumerable  books  that  have  been  pub- 
lished, the  names  are  sufficient,  and  I  shall  therefore  content 
myself  with  relating  the  few  personal  incidents  of  the  journey, 
and  a  very  few  particulars  about  places.  What  I  have  to  say 
will  probably  disappoint  the  reader,  who  may  be  aware  that 
the  journey  was  made  in  the  company  of  no  less  a  person  than 

*  "  Works,  containing  his  Poems  and  Correspondence.  To  which  are  added, 
Memoirs  of  his  Life  and  Writings,  by  W.  Mason,  M.  A."  London,  1807.  A 
new  edition  in  1820. 

t  Written  in  1851- 

VOL.  I.  19  ^  BB 


434    BEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


the  poet  Wordsworth.  [If  there  are  fewer  of  Wordsworth's 
observations  than  might  be  expected,  the  clew  may  perhaps  be 
in  the  fact  stated  elsewhere,  that  "  he  was  a  still  man  when  he 
enjoyed  himself ^  —  Ed.] 

He  came  to  London  with  Mrs.  and  Miss  Wordsworth  in  the 
month  of  June,  partly  to  be  present  at  the  marriage  of  Mrs. 
Wordsworth's  kinsman,  Mr.  Monkhouse,  with  Miss  Horrocks, 
of  Preston,  in  Lancashire,  and  to  accompany  them  in  a  mar- 
riage tour.  I  was  very  much  gratified  by  a  proposal  to  be  their 
companion  on  as  much  of  the  journey  as  my  circuit  would 
permit.  It  was  a  part  of  their  plan  to  go  by  way  of  the 
Rhine,  and  it  was  calculated  (justly,  as  the  event  showed) 
that  I  might,  by  hastening  through  France,  reach  them  in 
time  to  see  with  them  a  large  portion  of  the  beauties  of  Swit- 
zerland. 

Mr.  Wordsworth  published  on  his  return  a  small  volume, 
entitled  "  Memorials  of  a  Tour  on  the  Continent,"  one  of  the 
least  popular  of  his  works.  Had  it  appeared  twenty  years 
afterwards,  when  his  fame  was  established,  the  reception  would 
have  been  very  different. 

I  left  London  on  the  1st  of  August,  and  reached  Lyons  on 
the  9th.  On  the  journey  I  had  an  agreeable  companion  in  a 
young  Quaker,  Walduck,  then  in  the  employ  of  the  great 
Quaker  chemist,  Bell,  of  Oxford  Street.  It  was  his  first  journey 
out  of  England.  He  had  a  pleasing  physiognomy,  and  was 
stanch  to  his  principles,  but  discriminating.  Walking  together 
in  one  of  the  principal  streets  of  Lyons,  we  met  the  Host,  with 
an  accompanying  crowd.  You  must  pull  off*  your  hat,  Wal- 
duck." —  "I  will  die  first !"  he  exclaimed.  As  I  saw  some  low 
fellows  scowling,  and  did  not  wish  to  behold  an  act  of  martyr- 
dom, /  pulled  off  his  hat.  Afterwards,  passing  by  the  cathe- 
dral, I  said  to  him  :  "I  must  leave  you  here,  for  I  won't  go  in 
to  be  insulted."  He  followed  me  with  his  hat  off.  I  thought 
you  would  die  first !  "  —  "0  no  ;  here  I  have  no  business  or 
right  to  be.  If  the  owners  of  this  building  choose  to  make  a 
foolish  rule  that  no  one  shall  enter  with  his  hat,  they  do  what 
they  have  a  legal  right  to  do,  and  I  must  submit  to  their  terms. 
Not  so  in  the  broad  highway."  The  reasoning  was  not  good, 
but  one  is  not  critical  when  the  conclusion  is  the  right  one 
practically.  Passing  the  night  of  the  10th  on  the  road,  we 
reached  Geneva  late  on  the  11th.  On  the  13th  we  went  to 
Lausanne,  where  Walduck  left  me.  On  the  14th  I  went  to 
Berne.    I  rose  before  five,  and  saw  the  greater  part  of  the 


1820.]  SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH.  435 

town  before  breakfast.  It  is  one  of  the  most  singular  places 
I  ever  saw.  It  stands  on  a  sort  of  peninsular  elevation  formed 
by  the  River  Aare,  and  consists  of  two  or  three  long  streets, 
with  a  few  others  intersecting  them.  The  houses  are  of  free- 
stone, and  are  built  in  part  on  arches,  under  which  there  is  a 
broad  passage,  with  shops  within.  No  place,  therefore,  can 
be  cooler  in  summer  or  warmer  in  winter.  In  the  middle 
of  the  streets  there  is  a  channel  with  a  rapid  stream  of 
water. 

About  the  town  there  are  fountains  in  abundance,  crowned 
with  statues  of  armed  men,  Swiss  heroes.  And  there  are  gross 
and  whimsical  representations  of  bears*  on  several  of  the 
public  buildings.  Two  living  bears  are  kept  in  a  part  of  the 
fosse  of  the  town.  I  w^alked  to  the  Enge  Terrace,  from  which 
the  view  of  the  Bernese  Alps  is  particularly  fine.  The  people 
are  as  picturesque  as  the  place.  The  women  wear  black  caps, 
fitting  the  head  closely,  with  prodigious  black  gauze  wings  : 
Miss  Wordsworth  calls  it  the  butterfly  cap.  In  general,  I 
experienced  civility  enough  from  the  people  I  spoke  to,  but  one 
woman,  carrying  a  burden  on  her  head,  said  sharply,  on  my 
asking  the  way,  Ich  kann  kein  Welsch  "  (I  can't  speak  any 
foreign  language).  And  on  my  pressing  the  question,  being 
curious  to  see  more  of  her,  and  at  last  saying,  "  Sie  ist 
dumm"  (She  is  stupid),  she  screamed  out,  ''Fort,  fort"  (Go 
along). 

On  the  15th  I  went  to  Solothurn,  and  an  acquaintance  began 
out  of  which  a  catastrophe  sprang.  In  the  stage  between 
Berne  and  Solothurn,  which  takes  a  circuit  through  an  unpic- 
turesque,  flat  country,  were  two  very  interesting  young  men, 
who  I  soon  learned  were  residing  with  a  Protestant  clergyman 
at  Geneva,  and  completing  their  education.  The  elder  was  an 
American,  aged  twenty-one,  named  Goddard.  He  had  a  sickly 
air,  but  was  intelligent,  and  not  ill-read  in  English  poetry.  The 
other  was  a  fine  handsome  lad,  aged  sixteen,  of  the  name  of 
Trotter,  son  of  the  then,  or  late.  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty. 
He  was  of  Scotch  descent.  They  were  both  genteel  and  well- 
behaved  young  men,  with  the  grace  communicated  by  living  in 
good  company.  We  became  at  once  acquainted,  —  I  being 
then,  as  now,  young  in  the  facility  of  forming  acquaintance. 
We  spent  a  very  agreeable  day  and  evening  together,  partly  in 
a  walk  to  a  hermitage  in  the  neighborhood,  and  took  leave  of 
each  other  at  night,  —  I  being  bound  for  Lucerne,  they  for 

*  The  arms  of  the  town. 


436     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 

Zurich.  But  in  the  morning  I  saw,  to  my  surprise,  my  young 
friends  with  their  knapsacks  in  their  hands  ready  to  accompany 
me.  Goddard  said,  with  a  very  amiable  modesty  :  "If  you 
will  permit  us,  we  wish  to  go  with  you.  I  am  an  admirer  of 
Wordsworth's  poems,  and  I  should  be  delighted  merely  to  see 
him.  Of  course  I  expect  no  more."  I  was  gratified  by  this 
proposal,  and  we  had  a  second  day  of  enjoyment,  and  this 
through  a  very  beautiful  country.  My  expectations  were  not 
disappointed.  I  had  heard  of  the  Wordsworth  party  from  travel- 
lers with  whom  we  met.  I  found  my  friends  at  the  Cheval 
Blanc.  From  them  I  had  a  most  cordial  reception,  and  I  was 
myself  in  high  spirits.  Mrs.  W ordsworth  wrote  in  her  journal : 
"  H.  C.  R.  was  drunk  with  pleasure,  and  made  us  drunk  too." 
My  companions  also  were  kindly  received. 

I  found  that  there  was  especial  good  luck  attending  my  ar- 
rival. Wordsworth  had  met  with  an  impudent  fellow,  a  guide, 
who,  because  he  would  not  submit  to  extortion,  had  gone  off 
with  the  ladies'  cloaks  to  Sarnen.  Now  it  so  happened  that 
one  of  our  fellow-travellers  this  day  was  the  Statthalter  of 
Sarnen.  I  spoke  to  him  before  we  went  to  bed,  and  we  ar- 
ranged to  go  to  Sarnen  the  next  day.  We  rose  at  four  o'clock, 
had  a  delightful  walk  to  Winkel,  embarked  there  on  the  lake, 
sailed  to  Alpnach,  and  then  proceeded  on  foot.  The  judge 
was  not  betrayed  into  any  impropriety.  He  had  heard  Mr. 
Wordsworth's  story,  and  on  going  to  the  inn,  he,  without  suf- 
fering Mr.  Wordsworth  to  say  a  word,  most  judiciously  inter- 
rogated the  landlord,  who  was  present  when  the  bargain  was 
made.  He  confirmed  every  part  of  Mr.  Wordsworth's  state- 
ment. On  this,  the  Statthalter  said  :  "I  hear  the  man  has  not 
returned,  a  fact  which  shows  that  he  is  in  the  wrong.  I  know 
him  to  be  a  bad  fellow.  He  will  be  home  this  evening,  you 
may  rely  on  it,  and  you  shall  have  the  cloaks  to-morrow." 
Next  day  the  man  came,  and  was  very  humble. 

Wordsworth  and  I  returned  to  dinner,  and  found  my  young 
friends  already  in  great  favor  with  the  ladies.  After  dinner 
we  walked  through  the  town,  which  has  no  other  remarkable 
feature  than  the  body  of  water  flowing  through  it,  and  the  sev- 
eral covered  wooden  bridges.  In  the  angles  of  the  roof  of 
these  bridges  there  are  paintings  on  historical  and  allegorical 
subjects.  One  series  from  the  Bible,  another  from  the  Swiss 
war  against  Austria,  a  third  called  the  Dance  of  Death.  The 
last  is  improperly  called,  for  Death  does  not  force  his  partner 
to  an  involuntary  waltz,  as  in  the  famous  designs  which  go  by 


1820.]  SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH.  437 


Holbein's  name,  but  appears  in  all  the  pictures  an  unwelcome 
visitor.  There  are  feeling  and  truth  in  many  of  the  concep- 
tions, but  the  expression  is  too  often  ludicrous,  and  too  often 
coarsely  didactic* 

August  18tlu  —  Proceeded  on  our  journey.  I  purchased  a 
knapsack,  and  sent  my  portmanteau  to  Geneva.  All  the  party 
were,  in  like  manner,  put  on  short  commons  as  to  luggage,  and 
our  plan  of  travelling  was  this  :  in  the  plains  and  level  valleys 
we  had  a  char-a-banc,  and  we  walked  up  and  down  the  moun- 
tains. Once  only  we  hired  mules,  and  these  the  guides  only 
used.  Our  luggage  was  so  small,  even  for  five  (Mrs.  Monk- 
house  and  Miss  Horrocks  did  not  travel  about  with  the  rest  of 
the  party),  that  a  single  guide  could  carry  the  whole. 

We  sailed  on  the  lake  as  far  as  KUsnacht,  the  two  young 
men  being  still  our  companions  ;  and  between  two  and  three 
we  began  to  ascend  the  Sigi,  an  indispensable  achievement  in  a 
Swiss  tour.  We  engaged  beds  at  the  Staftel,  and  went  on  to 
see  the  sun  set,  but  we  were  not  fortunate  in  the  weather. 
Once  or  twice  there  were  gleams  of  light  on  some  of  the  lakes, 
but  there  was  little  charm  of  coloring.  After  an  early  and 
-Comfortable  supper  we  enjoyed  the  distant  lightning  ;  but  it 
soon  became  very  severe,  and  some  of  the  rooms  of  the  hotel 
were  flooded  with  rain.  Our  rest  was  disturbed  by  a  noisy 
party,  who,  unable  to  obtain  beds  for  themselves,  resolved  that 
no  one  else  should  enjoy  his.  The  whole  night  was  spent  by 
them  in  an  incessant  din  of  laughing,  singing,  and  shouting. 
We  were  called  up  between  three  and  four  a.  m.,  but  had  a 
very  imperfect  view  from  this  dread  summit  of  the  Queen  of  . 
Mountains,"  —  Regina  montium.  The  most  beautiful  part  of 
the  scene  was  that  which  arose  from  the  clouds  below  us. 
They  rose  in  succession,  sometimes  concealing  the  country,  and 
then  opening  to  our  view  dark  lakes,  and  gleams  of  very  bril- 
liant green.  They  sometimes  descended  as  if  into  an  abyss 
beneath  us.  We  saw  a  few  of  the  snow-mountains  illuminated 
by  the  first  rays  of  the  sun. 

My  journal  simply  says  :  "  After  breakfast  our  young  gen- 
tlemen left  us."  I  afterwards  wrote:  "  We  separated  at  a  spot 
well  suited  to  the  parting  of  those  who  were  to  meet  no  more. 
Our  party  descended  through  the  valley  of  our  ^  Lady  of  the 

*  The  XXXVIII.  Poem  of  the  "  Memorials  "  was  written  while  the  work  was 
in  the  press,  and  atH.  C.  R.'s  sug-.s^estion  that  Mr.  Wordsworth  should  write  on 
the  bridges  at  Lucerne.  This  will  appear  in  a  letter  by  Miss  Wordsworth  in 
1822.  ' 


438     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


Snow,*  and  our  late  companions  went  to  Arth.  We  hoped  to 
meet  in  a  few  weeks  at  Geneva." 

I  will  leave  the  order  of  time,  and  relate  now  all  that  ap- 
pertains to  this  sad  history.  The  young  men  gave  us  their 
address,  and  we  promised  to  inform  them  when  we  should  be 
at  Geneva,  on  our  return.  But  on  that  return  we  found  that 
poor  Goddard  had  perished  in  the  lake  of  Zurich,  on  the  third 
day  after  our  leave-taking  on  the  Rigi. 

I  heard  the  story  from  Trotter  on  the  23d  of  September. 
They  had  put  themselves  in  a  crazy  boat ;  and,  a  storm  arising, 
the  boat  overset.  It  righted  itself,  but  to  no  purpose.  Trot- 
ter swam  to  the  shore,  but  Goddard  was  not  seen  again. 
Trotter  was  most  hospitably  received  by  a  Mr.  Keller,  near 
whose  house  the  catastrophe  took  place.  The  body  was  cast 
ashore  next  day,  and  afterwards  interred  in  the  neighboring 
churchyard  of  Kiisnacht.  An  inscription  was  placed  near  the 
spot  where  the  body  was  found,  and  a  mural  monument  erected 
in  the  church.  At  the  funeral  a  pathetic  address  was  delivered 
by  the  Protestant  clergyman,  which  I  read  in  the  Ziirich  pa- 
per. We  were  all  deeply  impressed  by  the  event.  Words- 
worth, I  knew,  was  not  fond  of  drawing  the  subjects  of  his 
poems  from  occurrences  in  themselves  interesting,  and  there- 
fore, though  I  urged  him  to  write  on  this  tragic  incident,  I 
little  expected  he  would.  There  is,  however,  a  beautiful  elegiac 
poem  by  him  on  the  subject.*  [To  the  later  editions  there  is 
prefixed  a  prose  introduction.  This  I  wrote.  Mr.  Wordsworth 
wrote  to  me  for  information,  and  I  drew  up  the  account  in  the 
first  person.] 

"  And  we  were  gay,  our  hearts  at  ease ; 
With  pleasure  dancing  through  the  frame 
We  journeyed ;  all  we  knew  of  care,  — 
Our  path  that  straggled  here  and  there; 
Of  trouble,  — but  the  fluttering  breeze; 
Of  Winter,  —  but  a  name. 
If  foresight  could  have  rent  the  veil 
Of  three  short  days,  —  but  hush,  —  no  more! 
Calm  is  the  grave,  and  calmer  none 
Than  that  to  which  thy  cares  are  gone, 
Thou  victim  of  the  stormy  gale ; 
Asleep  on  Ziirich's  shore. 
O  Goddard !  —  what  art  thou  ?  —  a  name, — 
A  sunbeam  followed  by  a  shade." 

In  a  subsequent  visit  to  Switzerland  I  called  at  Mr.  Keller's, 
and  saw  some  of  the  ladies  of  the  house,  who  gave  me  full 
particulars.    I  afterwards  became  acquainted,  in  Italy,  with 

*  Poems  of  the  Imagination,  Vol.  III.  p.  169,  Poem  XXXIII. 


1820.] 


SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH. 


439 


Goddard's  nearest  surviving  relative,  a  sister,  then  married  to 

a  Mr.  .    The  winter  preceding  I  was  at  Rome,  when  a 

Mrs.  Kirkland,  the  wife  of  an  American  gentleman,  once  Prin- 
cipal of  Harvard  College,  asked  me  whether  I  had  ever  known 
a  Mr.  Goddard,  her  countryman.  On  my  answering  in  the 
affirmative,  she  said  :  "  I  am  sorry  to  hear  it,  for  there  has 
been  a  lady  here  in  search  of  you.  However,  she  will  be  here 
again  on  her  return  from  Naples."  And  in  a  few  months  I 
did  see  her.  It  was  Goddard's  sister.  She  informed  me  that 
Wordsworth's  poem  had  afforded  her  mother  great  comfort, 
and  that  she  had  come  to  Europe  mainly  to  collect  all  infor- 
mation still  to  be  had  about  her  poor  brother ;  that  she  had 
seen  the  Kellers,  with  whom  she  was  pleased,  and  that  she 
had  taken  notes  of  all  the  circumstances  of  her  brother's  fate ; 
that  she  had  seen  Trotter,  had  been  to  Eydal  Mount,  and 
learned  from  Wordsworth  of  my  being  in  Italy.  She  was  a 
woman  of  taste,  and  of  some  literary  pretensions. 

On  my  return  to  England,  I  was  very  desirous  to  renew  my 
acquaintance  with  Trotter,  but  I  inquired  after  him  in  vain. 
After  a  time,  when  I  had  relaxed  my  inquiries,  I  heard  of  him 
accidentally,  —  that  he  was  a  stock-broker,  and  had  married  a 
Miss  Otter,  daughter  of  the  Bishop  of  Chichester.  I  had 
learned  this  just  before  one  of  the  balloting  evenings  at  the 
Athenaeum,  —  when,  seeing  Stratt  there,  and  beginning  my 
inquiries  about  his  brother-in-law,  he  stopped  them  by  saying, 

You  may  ask  himself,  for  there  he  is.  He  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Athenaeum  these  twelve  years !  "  He  called  to 
Trotter,  "  Here  is  a  gentleman  who  wants  to  speak  with  you." 
—  "Do  you  recollect  meV  —  "No,  I  do  not."  —  "Do  you 
recollect  poor  Goddard  "  —  "  You  can  be  no  one  but  Mr. 
Robinson."  We  were  glad  to  see  each  other,  and  our  acquaint- 
ance was  renewed.  The  fine  youth  is  now  the  intelligent  man 
of  business.  He  has  written  a  pamphlet  on  the  American 
State  Stocks.  Many  years  ago  he  came  up  from  the  country, 
travelling  fifty  miles  to  have  the  pleasure  of  breakfasting  with 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wordsworth  at  my  apartments. 

To  go  back  to  the  19th  of  August,  after  parting  from  our 
young  companions  we  proceeded  down  the  valley  in  which  is 
the  chapel  dedicated  to  our  Lady  of  the  Snow,  the  subject  of 
Wordsworth's  nineteenth  poem.  The  preceding  eighteen  have 
to  do  with  objects  which  had  been  seen  before  I  joined  the 
party.  The  elegiac  stanzas  are  placed  near  the  end  of  the 
collection,  I  know  not  for  what  reason.    The  stanzas  on  the 


440    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


chapel  express  poetically  the  thoughts  which  a  prosaic  mind 
like  mine  might  receive  from  the  numerous  votive  offerings 
hung  on  the  walls.  There  are  pictures  representing  accidents, 
—  such  as  drowning,  falling  from  a  horse,  and  the  Mother  and 
the  Child  are  in  the  clouds,  —  it  being  understood  that  the 
escape  proceeded  from  her  aid.  Some  crutches  with  painted 
inscriptions  bear  witness  to  the  miracles  wrought  on  the  lame. 

"  To  thee,  in  this  aerial  cleft, 
As  to  a  common  centre,  tend 
All  sufferers  that  no  more  rely- 
On  mortal  succor,  —  all  who  sigh 
And  pine,  of  human  hope  bereft, 
Nor  wish  for  earthly  friend. 

Thy  very  name,  0  Lady !  flings 
O'er  blooming  fields  and  gushing  springs 
A  tender  sense  of  shadowy  fear, 
And  chastening  sympathies !  " 

We  passed  the  same  day  through  Goldau,  a  desolate  spot, 
once  a  populous  village,  overwhelmed  by  the  slip  from  the 
Rossberg. 

On  the  20th  at  Schwyz,  which  Wordsworth  calls  the  "  heart " 
of  Switzerland,  as  Berne  is  the  ^'head."*  Passing  through 
Brunnen,  we  reached  Altorf  on  the  21st,  the  spot  which  sug- 
gested Wordsworth's  twentieth  effusion,  f  My  prose  remark 
on  the  people  shows  the  sad  difference  between  observation  and 
fancy.  I  wrote  :  "  These  patriotic  recollections  are  delightful 
w^hen  genuine,  but  the  physiognomy  of  the  people  does  not 
speak  in  favor  of  their  ancestors.  The  natives  of  the  district 
have  a  feeble  and  melancholy  character.  The  women  are 
afflicted  by  goitre.  The  children  beg,  as  in  other  Catholic 
cantons.  The  little  children,  with  cross-bows  in  their  hands, 
sing  unintelligible  songs.  Probably  Wilhelm  Tell  serves,  like 
Henri  Quatre,  as  a  name  to  beg  by."  But  what  says  the 
poet  ]  — 

"  Thrice  happy  burghers,  peasants,  warriors  old, 
Infants  in  arms,  and  ye,  that  as  ye  go 
Home-ward  or  school-ward,  ape  what  ye  behold; 
Heroes  before  your  time,  in  frolic  ifincy  bold  I  '* 


"  And  when  that  calm  Spectatress  from  on  high 
Looks  down,  —  the  bright  and  solitary  moon, 
Who  never  gazes  but  to  beautify  ; 
And  snow-fed  torrents,  which  the  blaze  of  noon 
Roused  into  fury,  murmur  a  soft  tune 

*  Poem  XXI.  of  the  "  Memorials.'* 

t  "Effusion  in  Presence  of  the  Painted  Tower  of  Tell  at  Altorf." 


1820.] 


SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH. 


441 


That  fosters  peace,  and  gentleness  recalls ; 

Then  might  the  passing  monk  receive  a  boon 

Of  saintly  pleasure  from  these  pictured  wails, 

While,  on  the  warlike  groups,  the  mellowing  lustre  falls." 

We  next  crossed  the  St.  Gotthard.  Wordsworth  thinks  this 
pass  more  beautiful  than  the  more  celebrated  [a  blank  here]. 
We  slept  successively  at  Amsteg  on  the  2 2d,  Hospenthal  on 
the  23d,  and  Airolo  on  the  24th.  On  the  way  we  were  over- 
taken by  a  pedestrian,  a  young  Swiss,  who  had  studied  at 
Heidelberg,  and  was  going  to  Eome.  He  had  his  flute,  and 
played  the  Eanz  des  Vaches.  Wordsworth  begged  me  to  ask 
him  to  do  this,  w^hich  I  did  on  condition  that  he  wrote  a  son- 
net on  it.  It  is  XXII.  of  the  collection.  The  young  man  was 
intelligent,  and  expressed  pleasure  in  our  company.  We  were 
sorry  when  he  took  French  leave.  We  were  English,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  he  feared  the  expense  of  having  such  costly 
companions.  He  gave  a  sad  account  of  the  German  Universi- 
ties, and  said  that  Sand,  the  murderer  of  Kotzebue,  had  many 
apologists  among  the  students. 

We  then  proceeded  on  our  half-walk  and  half-drive,  and  slept 
on  the  25th  at  Bellinzona,  the  first  decidedly  Italian  town.  We 
walked  to  Locarno,  where  we  resisted  the  first,  and  indeed  al- 
most the  only,  attempt  at  extortion  by  an  innkeeper  on  our 
journey.  Our  landlord  demanded  twenty-five  francs  for  a 
luncheon,  the  worth  of  which  could  scarcely  be  three.  I  ten- 
dered a  ducat  (twelve  francs),  and  we  carried  away  our  luggage. 
We  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  quarters  in  a  new  house,  the 
master  of  which  had  not  been  spoiled  by  receiving  English 
guests. 

On  the  27th  we  had  a  row  to  Luino,  on  the  Lago  Maggiore, 
a  walk  to  Ponte  Tresa,  and  then  a  row  to  Lugano,  where  we 
went  to  an  excellent  hotel,  kept  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Rossi, 
a  respectable  man. 

Our  apartments  consisted  of  one  handsome  and  spacious 
room,  in  which  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wordsworth  (this  room 
fronted  the  beautiful  lake) ;  a  small  back  room,  occupied  by 
Miss  Wordsworth,  with  a  window  looking  into  a  dirty  yard, 
and  having  an  internal  communication  with  a  two-bedded 
room,  in  which  Monkhouse  and  I  slept.  I  had  a  very  free 
conversation  with  Rossi  about  the  Queen,  who  had  been  some 
time  in  his  house.  It  is  worth  relating  here,  and  might  have 
been  worth  making  known  in  England,  had  the  trial  then  going 
on  had  another  issue.  He  told  me,  but  not  emphatically,  that 
when  the  Queen  came,  she  first  slept  in  the  large  room,  but  not 

19* 


442     EEMINISCEKCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  KOBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


liking  that,  she  removed  to  the  back  room.  "  And  Bergami," 
said  Rossi,  "  had  the  room  in  which  you  and  the  other  gentle- 
man sleep."  — And  was  there,"  I  asked,  the  same  communi- 
cation then  that  there  is  now  between  the  two  rooms  ]  "  —  "  Of 
course,"  he  replied.  It  was  in  the  power,  certainly,  of  the 
Queen  and  Bergami  to  open  the  door :  whether  it  was  opened 
or  not,  no  one  can  say."  He  added,  I  know  nothing ;  none 
of  my  servants  know  anything."  The  most  favorable  circum- 
stance related  by  Rossi  was,  that  Bergami's  brother  did  not  fear 
to  strike  off  much  from  the  bill.  He  added,  too,  that  the  Queen 
was  surrounded  by  cattiva  gente. 

On  the  28th  we  took  an  early  walk  up  the  mountain  San 
Salvador,  *which  produced  No.  XXIV.  of  Wofdsworth's  Me- 
morial Poems.*  Though  the  weather  was  by  no  means  favor- 
able, we  enjoyed  a  much  finer  view  than  from  the  Rigi.  The 
mountains  in  the  neighborhood  are  beautiful,  but  the  charm  of 
the  prospect  lies  in  a  glimpse  of  distant  mountains.  We  saw 
a  most  elegant  pyramid,  literally  in  the  sky,  partly  black,  and 
partly  shining  like  silver.  It  was  the  Simplon.  Mont  Blanc 
and  Monte  Rosa  were  seen  in  parts.  Clouds  concealed  the  bases, 
and  too  soon  also  the  summits.  This  splendid  vision  lasted  but 
a  few  minutes.  The  plains  of  Piedmont  were  hardly  visible, 
owing  to  the  black  clouds  which  covered  this  part  of  the  hori- 
zon. We  could,  however,  see  in  the  midst  of  a  dark  surface  a 
narrow  ribbon  of  white,  which  we  were  told  was  the  Po.  We 
were  told  the  direction  in  which  Milan  lay,  but  could  not  see 
the  cathedral. 

The  same  day  we  went  on  to  Menaggio,  on  the  Lake  Como. 
This,  in  Wordsworth's  estimation,  is  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
lakes.  On  the  29th  and  30th  we  slept  at  Cadenabbia,  and  "  fed 
our  eyes  " 

"  In  paths  sun-proof 
With  purple  of  the  trellis  roof, 
That  through  the  jealous  leaves  escapes 
From  Cadenabbia's  pendent  grapes."  t 

The  beds  in  which  Monkhouse  and  I  slept  at  Menaggio  were 
intolerable,  but  we  forgot  the  sufferings  of  the  night  in  the  en- 
joyment of  the  morning.  I  wrote  in  my  journal :  "  This  day 
has  been  spent  on  the  lake,  and  so  much  exquisite  pleasure  I 
never  had  on  water.     The  tour,  or  rather  excursion,  we  have 

*  Wordsworth  speaks  of  the  "  prospect"  as  "more  diversified  by  magnifi- 
cence, beauty,  and  sublimity  than  perhaps  any  other  point  in  Europe,  of  so 
inconsiderable  an  elevation  (2,000  feet),  commands." — Introduction  to  Poem 
XXIV. 

t  Vide  Poem  XXV.  of  th€  "  Memorials." 


1820.] 


SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WOEDSWORTH. 


443 


been  making,  surpasses  in  scenery  all  that  I  have  ever  made  ; 
and  Wordsworth  asserts  the  same.  I  write  now  from  an  inn 
where  we  have  been  served  with  all  the  promptitude  of  an 
English  hotel,  and  with  a  neatness  equal  to  that  of  Holland. 
But  the  pleasure  can  hardly  be  recorded.  It  consists  in  the 
contemplation  of  scenes  absolutely  indescribable  by  words,  and 
in  sensations  for  which  no  words  have  been  even  invented.  We 
were  lucky  in  meeting  two  honest  fellows  of  watermen,  who  have 
been  attentive  and  not  extortionate.  I  will  not  enumerate  the 
points  of  view  and  villas  we  visited.  We  saw  nothing  the  guide- 
books do  not  speak  of" 

On  the  31st  we  slept  at  Como,  and  next  day  went  to  Milan, 
where  we  took  up  our  abode  at  Reichardt's  Swiss  Hotel.  We 
were,  however,  sent  to  an  adjacent  hotel  to  sleep,  there  being 
no  bed  unoccupied  at  Eeichardt's.  We  arrived  just  before 
dinner,  and  were  placed  at  the  upper  end  of  a  table  reserved 
for  the  English,  of  whom  there  were  five  or  six  present,  besides 
ourselves.  Here  we  made  an  acquaintance  with  a  character  of 
whom  I  have  something  to  say. 

A  knot  of  young  persons  were  listening  to  the  animated  con- 
versation of  a  handsome  young  man,  who  w^as  rattling  away  on 
the  topics  of  the  day  with  great  vivacity.  Praising  highly  the 
German  poets  Goethe,  Schiller,  (fee,  he  said  :  "  Compared  with 
these,  we  have  not  a  poet  worth  naming."  I  sat  opposite  him, 
and  said :  Die  gegenwartige  Gesellschaft  ausgenommen"  (The 
present  company  excepted).  Now,  whether  he  heard  or  under- 
stood me  I  cannot  possibly  say.  If  so,  the  rapidity  with  which 
he  recovered  himself  was  admirable,  for  he  instantly  went  on : 
"  When  I  say  no  one,  I  always  except  Wordsworth,  who  is 
the  greatest  poet  England  has  had  for  generations."  The  effect 
was  ludicrous.  Mrs.  Wordsworth  gave  me  a  nudge,  and  said  : 
''He  knows  that's  William."  And  Wordsworth,  being  taken 
by  surprise,  said  :  "  That 's  a  most  ridiculous  remark  for  you  to 
make.  My  name  is  Wordsworth."  On  this  the  stranger  threw 
himself  into  an  attitude  of  astonishment,  —  well  acted  at  all 
events,  —  and  apologized  for  the  liberty  he  had  taken.  After 
dinner  he  came  to  us,  and  said  he  had  been  some  weeks  at  Mi- 
lan, and  should  be  proud  to  be  our  cicerone.  We  thought  the 
offer  too  advantageous  to  be  rejected,  and  he  went  round  with 
us  to  the  sights  of  this  famous  city.  But  though  I  was  for  a 
short  time  taken  in  by  him,  I  soon  had  my  misgivings ;  and 
coming  home  the  first  evening,  Wordsworth  said  :  "  This  Mr. 
 is  an  amusing  man,  but  there  is  something  about  him  I 


444    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


don't  like."  And  I  discovered  him  to  be  a  mere  pretender  in 
German  literature,  —  he  knew  merely  the  names  of  Goethe  and 
Schiller.  He  made  free  with  the  names  of  our  English  literary 
notabilities,  such  as  Shelley,  Byron,  Lamb,  Leigh  Hunt ;  but  I 
remarked  that  of  those  I  knew  he  took  care  to  say  no  more. 
One  day  he  went  to  Mrs.  Wordsworth  with  a  long  face,  and 
said  he  had  lost  his  purse.  But  she  was  not  caught.  Some 
one  else  must  have  paid  the  piper.  At  Paris  we  met  the  same 
gentleman  again,  and  he  begged  me  to  lend  him  j£  15,  as  he  had 
been  robbed  of  all  his  money.  I  was  enabled  to  tell  him  that  I 
had  that  very  morning  borrowed  £  10.  He  was,  however,  more 
successful  in  an  application  to  Monkhouse,  who  said  :  I  would 
rather  lose  the  money  than  ever  see  that  fellow  again."  It  is 
needless  to  say  he  "  lost  his  money  and  his  friend,"  but  did  not, 
in  the  words  of  the  song,  '^place  great  store  on  both."  As  usually 
happens  in  such  cases,  we  learnt  almost  immediately  after  the 
money  had  been  advanced,  that  Mr.  was  a  universal  bor- 
rower. His  history  became  known  by  degrees.  He  was  an 
American  by  birth,  and  being  forced  to  fly  to  England,  he  be- 
came secretary  to  a  Scotchman,  who  left  him  money,  that  he 
might  study  the  law.  This  money  he  spent  or  lost  abroad, 
and  it  was  at  this  stage  that  we  fell  in  with  him.  He  afterwards 
committed  what  was  then  a  capital  forgery,  but  made  his  es- 
cape. These  circumstances  being  told  in  the  presence  of  the 
manager  of  a  New  York  theatre,  he  said :  Then  I  am  at 
liberty  to  speak.  I  knew  that  fellow  in  America,  and  saw  him 
with  an  iron  collar  on  his  neck,  a  convict  for  forgery.  He  had 
respectable  friends,  and  obtained  his  pardon  on  condition  that 
he  should  leave  the  country.  Being  one  day  in  a  box  at  Covent 
Garden,  I  saw  him.  Perceiving  that  I  knew  him,  he  came  to 
me,  and  most  pathetically  implored  me  not  to  expose  him.  '  I 
am  a  reformed  man,'  said  he  ;  *  I  have  friends,  and  have  a  pros- 
pect of  redeeming  myself  I  am  at  your  mercy.'  His  appear- 
ance was  not  inconsistent  with  this  account.  I  therefore  said  : 
*  I  hope  you  are  speaking  the  truth.  I  cannot  be  acquainted 
with  you,  but  unless  I  hear  of  misconduct  on  your  part  in  this 
country,  I  will  keep  your  secret.' " 

Some  time  afterwards  we  heard  that  this  reckless  adventurer 
had  died  on  a  bed  of  honor,  —  that  is,  was  killed  in  a  duel. 

I  remained  a  week  at  Milan,  where  I  fell  in  with  Mrs.  Alde- 
bert,  and  renewed  my  acquaintance  wdth  her  excellent  brother, 
Mr.  Mylius,  who  is  highly  honored  in  very  old  age.  Milan 
fiu^nished  Wordsworth  with  matter  for  three  poems,  on  Leo- 


1S20.]  SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH.  445 

nardo  da  Vinci's  "  Last  Supper,"  "  The  Eclipse  of  the  Sun  " 
(which  Monkhouse  and  I  saw  on  our  journey  from  Milan),  and 

The  Column,'^  a  memorial  of  Buonaparte's  defeated  ambition.* 
I  have  very  little  to  say,  as  I  abstain  from  a  description  of  the 
usual  sights.  I  may,  however,  remark,  that  at  the  picture  gal- 
lery at  the  Brera,  three  pictures  made  an  impression  on  me, 
■which  was  renewed  on   every  subsequent  visit,  —  Guercino's 

Abraham  and  Hagar,''  Raphael's  ^'  Marriage  of  the  Virgin," 
and  Albani's  "  Oak-Tree  and  Cupids." 

At  the  Ambrosian  Library  we  inspected  the  famous  copy  of 
Virgil  which  belonged  to  Petrarch.  It  has  in  the  poet's  own 
handwriting  a  note,  stating  when  and  where  he  first  saw^  Laura. 
Wordsworth  was  deeply  interested  in  this  entry,  and  woidd 
certainly  have  requested  a  copy,  if  he  had  not  been  satisfied 
that  he  should  find  it  in  print.  The  custos  told  us  that  when 
Buonaparte  came  here  first,  and  the  book  was  shown  him,  he 
seized  it,  exclaiming,  "  This  is  mine."  He  had  it  bound,  and 
his  own  N.  marked  on  it.  It  came  back  when  the  other  plun- 
der was  restored.  Another  curiosity  was  a  large  book  by  Leo- 
nardo da  Vinci,  full  of  mechanical  studies.  Wordsworth  was 
much  struck  with  the  fact  that  a  man  w^ho  had  produced  works 
of  so  great  beauty  and  sublimity  had  prepared  himself  by  in- 
tense and  laborious  study  of  scientific  and  mathematical  de- 
tails. It  was  not  till  late  that  he  ventured  on  beauty  as  exhib- 
ited in  the  human  form. 

Other  objects  of  interest  at  Milan,  which  I  never  forgot, 
"were  the  antique  columns  before  the  Church  of  St.  Laurent ; 
the  exhibition  of  a  grand  spectacle,  the  siege  of  Troy,  in  the 
Amphitheatre,  capable  of  holding  30,000  persons,  which 
enabled  me  to  imagine  what  Roman  shows  probably  were  ; 
and  the  exquisite  scenery  of  the  Scala  Theatre. 

But  the  great  attraction  of  this  neighborhood  is  the  cele- 
brated picture  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci  in  the  refectory  of  the 
Convent  of  Maria  della  Grazia.  After  sustaining  every  injury 
from  Italian  monks,  French  soldiers,  wet,  and  the  appropria- 
tion of  the  building  to  secular  purposes,  this  picture  is  now 
protected  by  the  public  sense  of  its  excellence  from  further  in- 
jury. And  more  remains  of  the  original  than  from  Goethe's 
dissertation  I  expected  to  see.  The  face  of  our  Saviour  ap- 
pears to  have  suffered  less  than  any  other  part.  And  the 
countenance  has  in  it  exquisite  feeling ;  it  is  all  sweetness  and 
dignity.    Wordsworth  says  :  — 

*  Poems  XXVI.,  XXVII.,  aud  XXIX.  of  the  "  Memorials.^' 


446     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


"  Though  searching  damps,  and  many  an  envious  flaw, 
Have  marred  this  work;  the  calm  ethereal  grace, 
The  love  deep-seated  in  the  Saviom^'s  face, 
The  mercy,  goodness,  have  not  failed  to  awe 
The  elements;  as  thev  do  melt  and  thaw 
The  heart  of  the  beholder."  * 

Some  of  the  apostles  have  a  somewhat  caricature  expression, 
which  has  been  far  better  preserved  in  the  several  copies  exist- 
ing, as  well  as  in  the  engraving  of  Raphael  Morghen.  There 
is  a  sort  of  mawkish  sentimentality  in  the  copies  of  St.  John, 
which  always  offended  me.  There  is  less  of  it  in  the  original. 
That  and  St.  Andrew  are  the  best  preserved,  next  to  the  face 
of  Christ. 

On  the  5th  of  September  the  Wordsworths  went  back  to  the 
Lake  of  Como,  in  order  to  gratify  Miss  Wordsworth,  who  wished 
to  see  every  spot  which  her  brother  saw  in  his  first  journey,  — 
a  journey  made  when  he  was  young. 

On  the  7th,  Monkhouse  and  I  went  to  Yarese.  As  we  ap- 
proached the  town  we  drew  nigh  the  mountains.  Varese  is 
most  delightfully  situated.  There  is  on  a  mountain,  2,000  feet 
high,  a  church  with  fifteen  appendant  chapels.  To  this  we 
found  peasants  were  flocking  in  great  numbers,  it  being  the  eve 
of  the  birthday  of  the  Virgin.  We  resolved  to  witness  this 
scene  of  devotion,  and  our  walk  afibrded  me  more  delight  than 
any  single  excursion  I  have  yet  made.  For  two  miles  the 
mountain  is  very  steep.  The  fifteen  chapels  are  towards  the 
top,  and  beautiful,  containing  representations  of  the  Passion  of 
Christ  in  carved  and  painted  wood.  The  figures  are  as  large 
as  life,  and  at  least  very  expressive.  Though  so  closely  resem- 
bling wax  figures,  they  excited  no  disgust.  On  the  contrary,  I 
was  highly  pleased  with  the  talent  of  the  artists.  The  drag- 
ging of  the  cross,  and  the  crucifixion,  are  deeply  affecting.  The 
spectator  looks  through  iron  grates,  the  apertures  of  which  are 
purposely  small.  My  view  was  imperfect,  on  account  of  the 
number  of  pious  worshippers.  Towards  the  top  the  crowd  was 
immense.  We  sometimes  had  to  jump  over  the  bodies  of  men 
and  women.  The  church  I  could  scarcely  enter.  Hundreds  of 
women  were  lying  about  with  their  provisions  in  baskets.  The 
hats  of  the  peasantry  were  covered  with  holy  gingerbread 
mingled  with  bits  of  glass.  Bands  of  people  came  up  chant- 
ing after  a  sort  of  leader.  This  scene  of  devotion  would  have 
compensated  for  the  walk ;  but  we  had,  in  addition,  a  very  fine 
prospect.    On  one  side  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  studded  with 


*  Poem XXVI.  of  the  "Memorials." 


1820.] 


SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH. 


447 


churches  and  villages;  on  another,  five  or  six  pieces  of  water. 
In  another  direction  we  saw  a  mass  of  Alpine  hills  and  valleys, 
glens,  rocks,  and  precipices.  A  part  of  the  Lake  of  Lugano  was 
prominently  visible.  To  enjoy  this  view  I  had  to  ascend  an 
eminence  beyond  the  church.  Our  walk  home,  Monkhouse 
thought,  was  hardly  less  than  six  miles.  We  found  our  inn 
rather  uncomfortable  from  the  number  of  guests,  and  from  the 
singing  in  the  streets. 

We  rejoined  the  Wordsworths  at  Baveno  on  the  8th.  Then 
we  crossed  the  Simplon,  resting  successively  on  the  9th  at 
Domo  d'Ossola,  10th  Simplon,  11th  Turtman,  and  the  12th 
and  13th  at  the  baths  of  Leuk.  From  this  place  we  walked  up 
the  Gemmi,  by  far  the  most  wonderful  of  all  the  passes  of 
Switzerland  I  had  ever,  or  have  now  ever  crossed.  The  most 
striking  part  is  a  mountain  wall  1,600  feet  in  perpendicular 
height,  and  having  up  it  a  zigzag  path  broad  enough  to  enable 
a  horse  to  ascend.  The  road  is  hardly  visible  from  below.  A 
parapet  in  the  more  dangerous  parts  renders  it  safe.  Here  my 
journal  mentions  our  seeing  men  employed  in  picking  up  bees 
in  a  torpid  state  from  the  cold.  The  bees  had  swarmed  four 
days  before.  It  does  not  mention  what  I  well  recollect,  and 
Wordsworth  has  made  the  subject  of  a  sonnet,  the  continued 
barking  of  a  dog  irritated  hy  the  echo  of  his  own  voice.  In  hu- 
man life  this  is  perpetually  occurring.  It  is  said  that  a  dog 
has  been  known  to  contract  an  illness  by  the  continued  labor 
of  barking  at  his  own  echo.  In  the  present  instance  the  bark- 
ing lasted  while  we  were  on  the  spot. 

"  A  solitary  wolf-dog,  ranging  on 
Through  the  bleak  concave,  wakes  this  wondrous  chime 
Of  aery  voices  locked  in  unison,  — 

Faint,  —  far  off,  —  near,  —  deep,  —  solemn  and  sublime !  — 
So  from  the  body  of  one  guilty  deed 

A  thousand  ghostly  fears  and  haunting  thoughts  proceed!  "  * 

On  the  14th  we  slept  at  Martigny,  having  passed  through 
the  most  dismal  of  all  the  valleys  in  Switzerland,  —  the  valley 
of  the  Rhone,  and  Sion,t  the  most  ugly  of  all  the  towns.  A 
barren  country,  and  a  town  of  large  and  frightful  edifices.  An 
episcopal  town  too.    It  looked  poverty-struck. 

I  say  nothing  of  Chamouni,  where  we  slept  two  nights,  the 
15th  and  16th ;  nor  of  the  roads  to  it,  but  that  the  Tete  Noire, 
by  which  we  returned,  is  still  more  interesting  than  the  Col  de 
Balme,  by  which  we  went.    Again  at  Martigny  on  the  1 7th. 

*  No.  XXXI.  of  the  "  Memorials,"  "  Echo  upon  the  Gemmi." 
t  The  painters,  however,  think  it  full  of  picturesque  subjects. 


448     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


I  should  not  have  omitted  to  mention  that,  to  add  to  the  sad- 
ness produced  by  the  Valais,  Wordsworth  remarked  that  there 
the  Alps  themselves  were  in  a  state  of  decay,  — crumbling  to 
pieces.    His  is  the  line  :  — 

"  The  human  soul  craves  something  that  endures." 

On  the  18th  we  were  at  Villeneuve,  and  on  the  19th  and 
20th  at  Lausanne.  In  the  latter  place  I  saw  some  relations 
of  Mrs.  H.  Mylius,  the  Minuets,  an  agreeable  family. 

At  Geneva  I  became  acquainted  with  a  Scotch  M.  D.,  a  Dr. 
Chisholm,  a  very  estimable  man,  with  four  very  agreeable 
daughters.  The  mother  an  English  lady  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  word.  At  Dr.  Chisholm's  house  I  met  the  celebrated  his- 
torian Sismondi,  who  reminded  me  of  Rogers,  the  poet.  On 
the  23d  I  sought  out  Mr.  Pictet,  to  make  what  could  not  but 
be  a  melancholy  call.  I  met  Trotter  on  the  road.  He  was  af- 
fected when  he  saw  me.  We  walked  together  to  the  city,  and 
he  gave  me  those  details  which  I  have  already  written.  We 
had  all  been  sincerely  afflicted  at  Goddard's  death.  He  was 
an  amiable  and  interesting  young  man  ;  and  we  could  not  help 
recollecting  that  it  was  his  rencontre  with  me,  and  his  desire  to 
see  Wordsworth,  which  occasioned  his  being  at  the  Lake  of 
Ziirich  when  the  storm  took  place. 

In  the  afternoon  I  called  on  Mrs.  Reeve.*  She,  too,  had 
a  sad  tale  to  tell.  She  witnessed  the  departure  of  the  party 
for  Mont  Blanc,  among  whom  were  the  three  guides  who 
perished-t 

September  24th.  —  In  the  morning  much  time  lost  in  running 
about.  After  dinner  we  went  to  a  delightful  spot"  at  Petit- 
Saconnex,  where  Geneva,  the  lake,  Mont  Blanc,  were  all  seen 
illuminated  by  the  setting  sun.  A  very  magnificent  scene 
which  we  all  enjoyed. 

On  the  25th  we  left  Geneva.  On  our  way  to  Paris  we 
visited  Montbar,  the  residence  of  Buifon,  a  man  of  sufficient 
fame  to  render  one  curious  to  see  the  seat  of  his  long  retire- 
ment and  study.  We  did  not  see  the  dwelling-house  within, 
it  being  out  of  order,  and  his  library  and  its  furniture  are  dis- 
persed ;  but  we  walked  in  the  garden,  and  ascended  a  tower 
of  considerable  height  as  well  as  antiquity.  This  belonged  to 
the  royal  family,  and  was  purchased  by  the  celebrated  Buffon, 
who  had  changed  the  military  castle  into  a  modern  chateau. 

*  The  widow  of  Dr.  Reeve,  of  Norwich,  and  mother  of  Mr.  Henry  Reeve, 
the  translator  of  De  Tocqueville. 
t  In  Dr.  Hamel's  well-known  attempt  to  ascend  Mont  Blanc. 


1820.] 


SWISS  TOUR  WITH  WORDSWORTH. 


449 


The  garden  is  of  small  extent,  and  consists  of  several  broad 
terraces  with  very  fine  trees  in  them.  The  prospect  is  not 
particularly  fine.  The  view  embraces  several  valleys;  but  the 
surrounding  hills  are  all  of  one  height,  and  the  valleys  are 
cold  and  somewhat  barren.  Near  the  tower  there  is  a  small 
column,  which  the  son  of  BufFon  raised  to  his  father's  memory. 
The  inscription  was  torn  off  during  the  Revolution.  I  thought 
more  of  the  unfortunate  son  than  of  the  father,  for  the  son 
left  this  retreat  (which  his  father  preferred  to  the  court),  to 
perish  on  the  scaffold  at  Paris.  The  heroism  with  which  he 
died,  saying  only  to  the  people,  "  Je  m'appelle  BufFon,"  be- 
speaks an  intense  sense  of  his  father's  worth,  and  interests  me 
more  than  the  talents  which  gave  the  father  celebrity. 

We  passed  through  the  forest  of  Fontainebleau.  The  part 
through  which  we  rode  is  in  no  way  remarkable,  —  a  mere  col- 
lection of  trees  with  avenues.  No  variety  of  surface.  We 
alighted  at  the  Ville  de  Lyon,  where  we  were  in  all  respects 
well  satisfied  with  our  entertainment.  The  chateau  is  a  vast 
hunting-palace,  built  by  a  succession  of  French  kings  from 
Saint  Louis  downw^ards.  Francis  I.  and  Henry  IV.  are  spoken 
of  as  having  built  the  more  prominent  parts.  It  has  no  pre- 
tension to  architectural  beauty  whatever.  The  apartments  are 
curious,  —  some  from  their  antiquity,  with  painted  roofs  ex- 
hibiting the  taste  of  ancient  times,  —  others  from  their  splen- 
dor, with  the  usual  decorations  of  satin  hangings,  gilt  thrones, 
china  tables,  &c.,  &c.  In  a  little  plain  room  there  is  exhibited 
a  table,  which  must  be  an  object  of  great  curiosity  to  those 
who  are  fond  of  associating  the  recollection  of  celebrated  events 
with  sensible  objects.  I  have  this  feeling  but  feebly.  Never- 
theless I  saw  with  interest  the  table  on  which  Buonaparte 
signed  his  abdication  in  the  year  1814.  We  were  also  shown 
the  apartments  in  which  the  Pope  w^as  kept  a  prisoner  for 
twenty  months,  for  refusing  to  yield  to  Napoleon  ;  from  which 
apartments,  the  concierge  assured  us,  he  never  descended. 
After  an  excellent  dinner,  we  were  shown  some  pleasing  Eng- 
lish gardens,  laid  out  by  Josephine. 

On  nearing  Paris  I  answered  the  solicitations  of  a  beggar  by 
the  gift  of  a  most  wretched  pair  of  pantaloons.  He  clutched 
them,  and  ran  on  begging,  which  showed  a  mastery  of  the 
craft.  When  he  could  get  no  more  from  the  second  carriage, 
he  sent  after  me  kisses  of  amusing  vivacity.  Our  merriment 
was  checked  by  the  information  of  the  postilion  that  this  beg- 
gar was  an  ancien  cure.    We  came  to  another  sight  not  to  be 

CO 


450     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


found  in  England,  —  a  man  and  woman  actually  yoked  to- 
gether, and  harrowing.  The  sight  was  doubly  offensive  on 
Sunday,  the  day  of  rest,  when  we  witnessed  it.  We  cannot 
expect  to  make  political  economists  of  the  peasantry,  but  pro- 
fessed thinkers  ought  to  know  that  were  the  seventh  day  opened 
universally  to  labor,  this  would  but  lessen  the  value  of  the 
poor  man's  capital,  —  his  limbs. 

At  Fontainebleau  we  were  awakened  by  the  firing  of  cannon. 
The  waiter  burst  into  our  room,  —  "  Yoila  un  Prince  !  "  It 
was  the  birth  of  the  now  Duo  de  Bordeaux,  —  perhaps  one 
day  the  King  of  France. 

At  Paris  I  renewed  my  old  acquaintance,  and  saw  the  old 
sights.  On  the  8th  I  left  the  Wordsworths,  who  were  intend- 
ing to  prolong  their  stay.  On  the  9th  I  slept  at  Amiens  ;  on 
the  10th  was  on  the  road  ;  on  the  11th  reached  Dover;  and 
on  the  12th  of  October  slept  in  my  own  chambers. 

"  And  so,"  my  journal  says,  I  concluded  my  tour  in  excel- 
lent health  and  spirits,  having  travelled  farther,  and  seen  a 
greater  number  and  a  greater  variety  of  sublime  and  beautiful 
objects,  and  in  company  better  calculated  to  make  me  feel  the 
worth  of  these  objects,  than  any  it  has  been  my  good  fortune 
to  enjoy."  Of  that  journal  I  must  now  say  that  it  is  the  most 
meagre  and  defective  I  ever  wrote,  —  perhaps  from  want  of 
time.  The  most  interesting  details,  and  not  the  least  true, 
have  been  written  from  memory,  the  journal  giving  me  only 
the  outlines.  The  fidelity  of  what  I  have  written  from  recol- 
lection might  be  doubted ;  but  that  would  be  unjust. 


October  29th,  —  I  was  employed  looking  over  law  papers  all 
the  forenoon ;  I  then  walked  in  the  rain  to  Clapton,  reading 
by  the  way  the  Indicator.^  There  is  a  spirit  of  enjoyment 
in  this  little  work  which  gives  a  charm  to  it.  Leigh  Hunt 
seems  the  very  opposite  of  Hazlitt.  He  loves  everything, 
he  catches  the  sunny  side  of  everything,  and,  excepting  that 
he  has  a  few  polemical  antipathies,  finds  everything  beau- 
tiful. 

November  8th,  —  Spent  the  afternoon  with  H.  Mylius,  and 
dined  there  with  a  large  party,  —  English  and  foreign.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Blunt,  friends  of  Monkhouse,  were  there,  —  she  a 
sensible,  lively  woman,  though  she  ventured  to  ridicule  the 

*  A  weekly  publication  edited  by  Leigh  Hunt.  It  consists  of  a  hundred 
numbers,  and  forms  two  vols.   London,  1819-21. 


1820.] 


THE  PICKPOCKET. 


451 


great  poet.  I  suspect  she  has  quarrelled  with  Monkhouse 
about  him ;  for  she  says  :  All  Wordsworth's  friends  quarrel 
with  those  who  do  not  like  him."  Is  this  so  1  And  what  does 
it  prove  1 

November  9th.  —  In  the  afternoon  called  on  Wordsworth. 
He  arrived  yesterday  night  in  town  after  a  perilous  journey. 
He  was  detained  nine  days  at  Boulogne  by  bad  weather,  and 
on  setting  off  from  the  port  was  wrecked.  He  gave  himself 
up  for  lost,  and  had  taken  off  his  coat  to  make  an  at- 
tempt at  swimming ;  but  the  vessel  struck  within  the  bar,  and 
the  water  retired  so  fast  that,  when  the  packet  fell  in  pieces, 
the  passengers  were  left  on  land.  They  were  taken  ashore  m 
carts. 

Noveynher  ISth.  —  In  the  evening  I  set  out  on  a  walk  which 
proved  an  unlucky  one.  As  I  passed  in  the  narrow  part  of 
the  Strand,  near  Thelwall's,  I  entered  incautiously  into  a 
crowd.  I  soon  found  myself  unable  to  proceed,  and  felt  that 
I  was  pressed  on  all  sides.  I  had  buttoned  my  great-coat.  On 
a  sudden  I  felt  a  hand  at  my  fob.  I  instantly  pressed  my 
hands  down,  recollecting  I  had  Mrs.  Wordsworth's  watch  in  my 
pocket.  I  feared  making  any  motion  with  my  hands,  and 
merely  pressed  my  waistband.  Before  I  could  make  any  cry, 
I  was  thrown  down  (how,  I  cannot  say).  I  rose  instantly.  A 
fellow  called  out,  "  Sir,  you  struck  me  ! ''  I  answered,  ^'  I  am 
sorry  for  it,  —  I 'm  robbed,  and  that  is  worse."  I  was  uncer- 
tain whether  I  had  lost  anything,  but  it  at  once  occurred  to 
me  that  this  was  a  sort  of  protecting  exclamation.  I  ran  into 
the  street,  and  then  remarked,  for  the  first  time,  that  I  had 
lost  my  best  umbrella.  I  felt  my  watch,  but  my  gold  chain 
and  seals  were  gone.  The  prime  cost  of  what  was  taken  was 
about  eight  guineas.  On  the  whole,  I  escaped  very  well,  con- 
sidering all  circumstances.  Many  persons  have  been  robbed 
on  this  very  spot,  and  several  have  been  beaten  and  ill-treated 
in  the  heart  of  the  City,  —  and  in  the  daytime.  Such  is  the 
state  of  our  police  !  My  watch-chain  was  taken  from  me,  not 
with  the  violence  of  robbery,  or  the  secrecy  of  theft,  but  with 
a  sort  of  ease  and  boldness  that  made  me  for  a  moment  not 
know  what  the  fellow  meant.  He  seemed  to  be  decently 
dressed,  and  had  on  a  white  ^T^^aistcoat. 

I  called  at  Lamb's,  where  the  Yfordsworths  were.  I  was  in 
good  spirits  telling  my  tale.  It  is  not  my  habit  to  fret  about 
what  happens  to  me  through  no  fault  of  my  own.  I  did  not 
reproach  myself  on  this  occasion ;  and  as  the  loss  was  not  a 


452     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 


serious  inconvenience,  it  did  not  give  me  a  moment's  uneasi- 
ness. 

I  then  went  to  a  large  party  at  Masquerier's.  There  were 
whist-tables,  dancing,  beautiful  drawings  by  Lewis,  made  on 
Masquerier's  late  journey,  and  some  interesting  people  there. 
I  saw,  but  had  no  conversation  with,  Lawrence,  whose  medical 
lectures  have  excited  much  obloquy  on  account  of  the  Mate- 
rialism obtruded  in  them.* 

November  18th.  —  The  afternoon  was  agreeable.  I  dined 
with  the  Wordsworths,  and  Lambs,  and  Mr.  Kenyon,  at  Monk- 
house's.  It  was  an  agreeable  company  and  a  good  dinner, 
though  I  could  not  help  sleeping.  Wordsworth  and  Monkhouse 
either  followed  my  example,  or  set  me  one,  and  Lamb  talked 
as  if  he  were  asleep.  Wordsworth  was  in  excellent  mood. 
His  improved  and  improving  mildness  and  tolerance  must  very 
much  conciliate  all  who  know  him. 

November  20th.  —  I  was  glad  to  accompany  the  Wordsworths 
to  the  British  Museum.  I  had  to  wait  for  them  in  the  ante- 
room, and  we  had  at  last  but  a  hurried  survey  of  the  antiqui- 
ties. I  did  not  perceive  that  Wordsworth  much  enjoyed  the 
Elgin  Marbles ;  but  he  is  a  still  man  when  he  does  enjoy  him- 
self, and.  by  no  means  ready  to  talk  of  his  pleasure,  except  to 
his  sister.  W^e  could  hardly  see  the  statues.  The  Memnon.f 
however,  seemed  to  interest  him  very  much.  Took  tea  with 
the  Lambs.  I  accompanied  Mrs.  and  Miss  Wordsworth  home, 
and  afterwards  sat  late  with  Wordsworth  at  Lamb's. 

November  21st.  —  I  went  late  to  Lamb's,  and  stayed  an  hour 
there  very  pleasantly.  The  Wordsworths  were  there,  and  Dr. 
Stoddart.  The  Doctor  was  very  civil.  Politics  were  hardly 
touched  on,  for  Miss  Kelly  $  stepped  in,  thus  drawing  our  at- 

*  'Lectures  on  Physiology,  Zoology,  and  the  Natural  History  of  Man.  By 
William  Lawrence.  London:  John  Callord,  1819.  The  author  recalled 
and  suppressed  this  edition ;  but  the  work  has  since  been  repeatedly  re- 
printed. 

t  This  formed  no  part  of  the  Elgin  Collection.  It  is  the  colossal  Egyptian 
head  of  Rameses  XL,  supposed  to  be  identical  with  the  Sesostris  of  the 
Greeks,  and  was  known  wlien  first  brought  to  the  British  Museum  as  the 
Memiion.  This  head,  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  Egyptian  art  in  Europe, 
■vvas  removed  by  Belzoni  in  1815,  and  presented  to  the  Museum  by  Messrs.  H. 
Salt  and  Burckhardt,  in  1817. 

X  I\Iiss  Kelly,  born  at  Brighton  in  1790,  attained  great  popularity  as  an 
actress  in  performing  characters  of  a  domestic  kind.  She  was  twice  shot  at  on 
the  stage.-   Charles  Lamb,  in  1818,  addressed  her  in  the  lines  beginning:  — 

"  You  are  not  Kelly  of  the  common  strain." 

One  of  her  best  performances  was  in  the  melodrama  of  *'  The  Maid  and  the 
Magpie,"  subsequently  referred  to.  Miss  Kelly  built  the  small  theatre  in  Dean 
Street,  Soho,  and  latterly  devoted  her  time  to  preparing  pupils  for  the  stage. 


1820.] 


QUEEN'S  TRIAL.  —  SIEVEKING. 


453 


tention  to  a  far  more  agreeable  subject.  She  pleased  me  much. 
She  is  neither  young  nor  handsome,  but  very  agreeable ;  her 
voice  and  manner  those  of  a  person  who  knows  her  own  worth, 
but  is  at  the  same  time  not  desirous  to  assume  upon  it.  She 
talks  like  a  sensible  woman.  Barry  Cornwall,  too,  came  in. 
Talfourd  also  there. 

Novemher  29th.  —  Being  engaged  all  day  in  court,  I  saw 
nothing  of  the  show  of  the  day,  —  the  Queen's  visit  to  St. 
Paul's.  A  great  crowd  were  assembled,  which  the  Times  rep- 
resents as  an  effusion  of  public  feeling,  echoed  by  the  whole 
nation  in  favor  of  injured  innocence.  The  same  thing  was 
represented  by  the  Ministerial  papers  as  a  mere  rabble.  I  think 
the  government  journals  on  this  occasion  are  nearer  the  truth 
than  their  adversaries ;  for  though  the  popular  delusion  has 
spread  widely,  embracing  all  the  lowest  classes,  and  a  Targe 
proportion  of  the  middling  orders,  yet  the  great  majority  of 
the  educated,  and  nearly  all  the  impartial,  keep  aloof. 

Eem.^ — The  disgraceful  end  of  the  disgraceful  process 
against  the  Queen  took  place  while  the  Wordsworths  were  in 
town.  Whilst  the  trial  was  going  on,  and  the  issue  still  un- 
certain, I  met  Coleridge,  w^ho  said,  "  Well,  Eobinson,  you  are 
a  Queenite,  I  hope '? "  —  ^'  Indeed  I  am  not."  —  "  How  is  that 
possible  '?  "  —  I  am  only  an  anti-Kingite."  —  "  That 's  just 
what  I  mean." 

On  the  3d  of  December  I  dined  with  the  Beneckes,  and 
made  an  acquaintance,  which  still  continues,  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sieveking.t  He  is  a  merchant  of  great  respectability, 
and  related  to  my  Hamburg  acquaintance.  A  man  of  sense, 
though  not  a  writer  j  he  is  highly  religious,  a  believer  in  mes- 
merism, and  with  an  inclination  to  all  mystical  doctrines.  His 
eldest  son  is  now  a  young  M.  D.,]:  and  a  very  amiable  young 
man.  He  was  educated  partly  at  our  University  College,  and 
I  can  cite  him  as  a  testimony  in  its  favor.  After  spending 
several  years  at  Paris,  Berlin,  and  at  Edinburgh,  where  he 
took  his  degree,  he  gave  his  decided  opinion  that  the  medical 
school  of  our  University  College  was  the  best  in  Europe. 

Decemher  8th.  —  I  read  a  little  of  Keats's  poems  to  the 
Aders's,  —  the  beginning  of  ^'Hyperion," — really  a  piece  of 
gTcat  promise.    There  are  a  force,  wildness,  and  originality  in 

*  Written  in  1851. 

t  Resident  for  nicany  years  at  Stamford  Hill.  Mr.  Sieveking  died  at  his  son's 
residence  in  Manchester  Square,  November  29,  1868,  aged  79. 

i  Now  Physician  in  Ordinary  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  He  attended  H.  C  R. 
in  his  last  illness. 


454    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  24. 

the  works  of  this  young  poet  which,  if  his  perilous  journey  to 
Italy  does  not  destroy  him,  promise  to  place  him  at  the  head 
of  the  next  generation  of  poets.  Lamb  places  him  next  to 
Wordsworth,  —  not  meaning  any  comparison,  for  they  are  dis- 
similar. 

December  IJftJi.  —  On  my  return  from  court,  where  I  had 
gained  a  cause  for  H.  Stansfeld,  I  met  Esther  Nash  and  walked 
with  her.  .After  dining  at  Collier's,  I  accompanied  her  to 
Drury  Lane.  "  The  English  Fleet,"  a  very  stupid  opera,  but 
Braham's  singing  was  delightful.  Madame  Yestris,  though 
rather  too  impudent,  is  a  charming  creature,  and  Munden,  as 
the  drunken  sailor,  was  absolutely  perfect.  Afterwards  a  melo- 
drama {"  The  Maid  and  the  Magpie  "),  in  which  the  theft  of 
a  magpie  gives  occasion  to  a  number  of  affecting  scenes,  was 
rendered  painfully  affecting  by  Miss  Kelly's  acting.  The  plan 
well  laid  and  neatly  executed. 

December  15th.  —  I  spent  the  forenoon  at  home  reading  law, 
and  went  late  to  the  Aders's,  where  I  read  Keats's  "  Pot  of 
Basil,"  a  pathetic  tale,  delightfully  told.  I  afterwards  read 
the  story  in  Boccaccio,  —  each  in  its  way  excellent.  I  am 
greatly  mistaken  if  Keats  do  not  very  soon  take  a  high  place 
among  our  poets.  Great  feeling  and  a  powerful  imagination 
are  shown  in  this  little  volume. 

December  20th.  —  Another  forenoon  spent  at  home  over  law- 
books. The  evening  I  spent  at  Aders's.  The  Flaxmans  there. 
They  seemed  to  enjoy  the  evening  much.  Aders  produced  his 
treasures  of  engraving  as  well  as  his  paintings,  and  Flaxman 
could  appreciate  the  old  masters.  He  did  not  appear  much  to 
relish  Thorwaldsen's  designs,  and  some  anecdotes  he  related 
made  us  suppose  that  he  was  indisposed  to  relish  Thorwaldsen's 
works  of  art.  Flaxman  greatly  admired  the  head  of  Mrs. 
Aders's  father,*  and  declared  it  to  be  one  of  the  best  of  Chan- 
trey's  works.  We  supped,  and  Flaxman  was  in  his  best 
humor.  I  was  not  aware  how  much  he  loved  music.  He  was 
more  than  gratified,  —  he  was  deeply  affected  by  Mrs.  Aders's 
singing.  It  was  apparent  that  he  thought  of  his  wife,  but  he 
was  warm  in  his  praises  and  admiration  of  Mrs.  Aders's. 

December  26th.  —  After  dining  at  Collier's  I  went  to  Flax- 
man, —  took  tea  and  had  several  interesting  hours'  chat  with 
him.  I  read  some  of  Wordsworth's  poems  and  Keats's  "  Eve 
of  St.  Agnes."    I  was,  however,  so  drowsy  that  I  read  this 

*  John  Raphael  Smith,  the  eminent  engraver,  who  died  in  London,  1811, 
He  was  appointed  engraver  to  the  Prince  of  Wales. 


1820.] 


EDGAR  TAYLOR. 


455 


poem  without  comprehending  it.  It  quite  affects  me  to  re- 
mark the  early  decay  of  my  faculties.  I  am  so  lethargic  that 
I  shall  soon  be  unable  to  discharge  the  ordinary  business  of 
life ;  and  as  to  all  pretensions  to  literary  taste,  this  I  must  lay 
aside  entirely.  How  wretched  is  that  state,  at  least  how  low 
is  it,  when  a  man  is  content  to  renounce  all  claim  to  respect, 
and  endeavors  only  to  enjoy  himself !  Yet  I  am  reduced  to 
this.  When  my  vivacity  is  checked  by  age,  and  I  have  lost 
my  companionable  qualities,  I  shall  then  have  nothing  left  but 
a  little  good-nature  to  make  me  tolerable,  even  to  my  old  ac- 
quaintances.* 

December  Slst.  —  Bischoff  told  me  that  when,  some  years 

back,  T  ,  the  common  friend  of  himself  and  Monkhouse, 

was  in  difficulties,  Bischoff  communicated  the  fact  to  Monk- 
house,  w^ho  seemed  strongly  affected.    He  said  nothing  to  Mr. 

Bischoff,  but  went  instantly  to  T  and  offered  him  £  10,000, 

if  that  could  save  him  from  failure.    It  could  not,  and  T  

rejected  the  offer. 

After  dining  with  W.  Collier  alone,  and  sitting  in  chambers 
over  a  book,  I  went  to  Edgar  Taylor's, t  having  refused  to  dine 
with  him.  He  had  a  party,  and  I  stayed  there  till  the  old  year 
had  passed.  There  were  Eichard  and  Arthur  Taylor,  E.  Tay- 
lor's partner,  Roscoe,J  and  a  younger  Roscoe§  (a  handsome  and 
promising  young  man,  who  is  with  Pattison  the  pleader,  ||  and 
is  to  be  called  to  the  bar),  and  Bowring  the  traveller.  His 
person  is  mild  and  amiable,  and  his  tone  of  conversation  agree- 
able. He  is  in  correspondence  with  the  Spanish  patriots,  and 
is  an  enthusiast  in  their  cause. 

So  passed  away  the  last  hours  of  the  year,  —  a  year  which 
I  have  enjoyed  as  I  have  the  former  years  of  my  life,  but  which 
has  given  me  a  deeper  conviction  than  I  ever  had  of  the  insig- 
nificance of  my  own  character. 

*  Written  between  forty-six  and  forty-seven  years  before  H.  C.  R.  died. 

t  Mr.  Edgar  Taylor  was  a  very  eminent  solicitor,  and  an  accomplished  man. 
He  translated  the  French  metrical  chronicle,  by  Wace,  entitled  "  Roman  de 
Ron."  He  also  wrote  a  "History  of  the  German  Minnesingers,"  with  trans- 
lated specimens ;  and  prepared  a  version  of  some  of  the  admirable  fairy  stories 
of  the  brothers  Grimm:  illustrated  by  George  Cruikshank.  And  it  is  well 
known  that  he  was  the  "  Layman"  whose  revised  translation  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament 'was  published  by  Pickering  in  1840,  shortly  after  his  death.  This 
work  was  almost  entirely  prepared  by  him  during  a  long  and  painful  illness. 

%  Robert  Roscoe.  Like  almost  all  William  Roscoe's  sons,  an  author  and 
poet.    He  died  in  1850. 

§  Henrv  Roscoe,  author  of  "  The  Lives  of  Eminent  Lawyers,"  &c.,  &c.  He 
died  in  1836. 

II  Afterwards  a  Judge. 


456    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  25. 


J  Covent  Garden,  where  I  saw  "  Virginius."  Macready  very 
much  pleased  me.  The  truth  of  his  performance  is  admirable. 
His  rich  mellow  tones  are  delightful,  and  did  he  combine  the 
expressive  face  of  Kean  with  his  own  voice,  he  would  far  sur- 
pass Kean,  for  in  judgment  I  think  him  equal.  The  scene  in 
which  he  betroths  his  daughter  is  delightfully  tender,  but  the 
catastrophe  is  too  long  delayed  and  wants  effect,  and  the  last 
act  is  an  excrescence. 

January  21st.  —  I  looked  over  papers,  and  at  twelve  o'clock 
walked  out.  I  called  on  the  Colliers,  and  then  went  to  Mrs. 
Barbauld's.  She  was  in  good  spirits,  but  she  is  now  the  con- 
firmed old  lady.  Independently  of  her  fine  understanding  and 
literary  reputation,  she  would  be  interesting.  Her  white  locks, 
fair  and  unwrinkled  skin,  brilliant  starche4  linen,  and  rich 
silk  gown,  make  her  a  fit  object  for  a  painter.  Her  conver- 
sation is  lively,  her  remarks  judicious,  and  always  pertinent. 

January  SOtli.  —  This  day  being  a  holiday,  I  went  to  Kem- 
ble's  sale.  I  met  Amyot  there,  and  we  had  a  pleasant  lounge 
together.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Masquerier  and  Lewis  took  tea  with 
me,  and  stayed  several  hours  looking  over  my  prints,  and  I 
enjoyed  their  pleasure.  Is  it  vanity,  sympathy,  or  good- 
nature, or  a  compound  of  all  these  feelings,  which  makes  the 
owner  of  works  of  art  enjoy  the  exhibition  %  Besides  this, 
he  learns  the  just  appreciation  of  works  of  art,  which  is  a 
positive  gain,  if  anything  appertaining  to  taste  may  be  called 
so. 

February  10th.  —  The  evening  was  devoted  to  Talfourd's 
call  to  the  bar,  which  was  made  more  amusing  by  the  contem- 
poraneous call  of  the  Irish  orator,  Phillips.*  Talfourd  had  a 
numerous  dinner-party,  at  which  I  was  the  senior  barrister. 
We  were  so  much  more  numerous  than  the  other  parties,  — 
there  being  three  besides  Phillips's,  —  that  we  took  the  head- 
table  and  the  lead  in  the  business  of  the  evening.  Soon  after 
we  were  settled,  with  the  dessert  on  the  table,  I  gave  Talfourd's 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


1821. 


Collier's,  and  then  went  to 


*  Afterwards  Commissioner  of  the  Insolvent  Court. 


1821] 


LETTER  FROM  WORDSWORTH. 


457 


health.  He,  after  returning  thanks,  gave  as  a  toast  the  Irish 
Bar,  and  in  allusion  to  Phillips's  call,  said  that  what  had  just 
taken  place  was  a  great  gain  to  England,  and  a  loss  to  Ireland. 
This  compliment  called  up  the  orator,  and  he  spoke  in  a  subdued 
tone  and  with  a  slowness  that  surprised  me.  I  left  the  Hall  for 
an  hour  and  a  half  to  take  tea  with  Manning.  "When  I  returned 
Phillips  was  again  on  his  legs,  and  using  a  great  deal  of  decla- 
mation. He  spoke  five  times  in  the  course  of  the  evening. 
Monkhouse  came  to  the  Hall,  and  at  about  twelve  we  adjourned 
to  Talfourd's  chambers,  where  an  elegant  supper  was  set  out. 
In  bed  at  half  past  two. 

March  10th.  —  I  took  tea  at  Flaxman's,  and  enjoyed  the  two 
hours  I  stayed  there  very  much.  Of  aU  the  religious  men  I 
ever  saw,  he  is  the  most  amiable.  The  utter  absence  of  all 
polemical  feeling,  —  the  disclaiming  of  all  speculative  opinion 
as  an  essential  to  salvation,  —  the  reference  of  faith  to  the  af- 
fections, not  the  understanding,  are  points  in  which  I  most 
cordially  concur  with  him ;  earnestly  wishing  at  the  same  time 
that  I  was  in  all  respects  like  him. 

Wordsworth  to  H.  C.  R. 

12th  March,  1821. 

My  dear  Friend,  —  You  were  very  good  in  writing  me  so 
long  a  letter,  and  kind,  in  your  own  Robinsonian  way.  Your 
determination  to  withdraw  from  your  profession  in  sufficient 
time  for  an  autumnal  harvest  of  leisure  is  of  a  piece  with  the 
rest  of  your  consistent  resolves  and  practices.  Consistent  I 
have  said,  and  why  not  rational  ?  The  word  would  surely 
have  been  added,  had  not  I  felt  that  it  was  awkwardly  loading 
the  sentence,  and  so  truth  would  have  been  sacrificed  to  a  point 
of  taste,  but  for  this  compunction.  Full  surely  you  will  do 
well ;  but  take  time  ;  it  would  be  ungrateful  to  quit  in  haste 
a  profession  that  has  used  you  so  civilly.  Would  that  I  could 
encourage  the  hope  of  passing  a  winter  with  you  in  Rome, 
about  the  time  you  mention,  which  is  just  the  period  I  should 
myself  select  !  ....  As  to  poetry,  I  am  sick  of  it  ]  it  over- 
runs the  country  in  all  the  shapes  of  the  Plagues  of  Egypt, 

—  frog-poets  (the  Croakers),  mice-poets  (the  Nibblers),  a  class 
which  Gray,  in  his  dignified  way,  calls  flies,  the  "  insect  youth," 

—  a  term  wonderfully  applicable  upon  this  occasion.  But  let 
us  desist,  or  we  shall  be  accused  of  envying  the  rising  genera- 
tion.   Mary  and  I  passed  some  days  at  Cambridge,  where, 

VOL.  I,  20 


458     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  25. 


what  with  the  company  of  my  dear  brother,*  —  our  stately 
apartments,  with  all  the  venerable  portraits  there,  that  awe 
one  into  humility,  —  old  friends,  new  acquaintance,  and  a 
hundred  familiar  remembrances,  and  freshly  conjured  up  recol- 
lections, I  enjoyed  myself  not  a  little.  I  should  like  to  lend 
you  a  sonnet,  composed  at  Cambridge ;  but  it  is  reserved  for 
cogent  reasons,  to  be  imparted  in  due  time.  Farewell !  happy 
shall  we  be  to  see  you. 

Wm.  Woedsworth. 

April  16th.  —  (On  a  visit  to  the  Pattissons  at  Witham.)  I 
walked  to  Hatfield  f  with  William.  Looked  into  the  church, 
—  the  Yicar,  Bennet,  was  our  cicerone.  He  spoke  of  Goldsmith 
as  a  man  he  had  seen.  Goldsmith  had  lodged  at  Springfield, 
with  some  farmers.  He  spent  his  forenoons  in  his  room, 
writing,  and  breakfasted  off  water-gruel,  without  bread.  In 
his  manners  he  was  a  bear.  —  A  tame  one,"  I  observed,  and 
it  was  assented  to.  He  dressed  shabbily,  and  was  an  odd  man. 
No  further  particulars  could  I  get,  except  that  while  Gold- 
smith was  there,  a  gentleman  took  down  some  cottages,  which 
Bennet  supposes  gave  rise  to  the  Deserted  Village."  Bennet 
pointed  out  to  us  the  antiquities  of  his  church ;  among  them 
a  recumbent  statue,  which  every  one  believed  was  a  woman, 
till  Flaxman  came  and  satisfied  him  that  it  was  a  priest. 

April  17th,  —  Hayter,  a  painter  in  crayons,  J  dined  with  us. 
He  is  taking  a  likeness  of  Mr.  Pattisson,  and  is  certainly  suc- 
cessful as  a  portrait-painter.  In  other  respects  he  is  a 
character.  He  is  self-educated,  but  is  a  sensible  man,  and 
blends  humor  with  all  he  says.  And  his  affection  for  his  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  is  already  a  promising  young  artist,  gives  a 
kind  of  dignity  to  his  character. 

June  12th.  —  I  accompanied  my  brother  and  sister  to  Co- 
vent  Garden.  We  had  a  crowding  to  get  there.  It  was 
Listen's  benefit.  He  played  delightfully  Sam  Swipes  in  Ex- 
change no  Robbery,"  his  knavish  father  passing  him  off  as  the 
foster-son  of  a  gentleman  who  had  run  away  after  intrusting 

*  Dr.  Christopher  Wordsworth,  ]\Iaster  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
t  Hatfield  Peverel,  two  miles  from  Witham. 

X  Mr.  Charles  Hayter,  author  of  "A  Treatise  on  Perspective,'-  published  in 
1825,  and  generally  considered  successful  in  taking  likenesses.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  present  Sir  George  Hayter  and  Mr.  John  Hayter,  both  distin- 
guished portrait-painters,  still  living.  Charles  Haj'-ter  lodged  at  Witham  many 
months  during  1821.  His  price  for  such  crayon  drawings  was  ten  guineas. 
The  picture  above  referred  to  is  still  in  possession  of  the  family. 


1821.]       A  MISANTHROPIST  DEFINED.  —  BURY  JAIL.  459 


him  with  the  child.  The  supposed  father^was  admirably  rep- 
resented by  Farren.  And  these  two  performers  afforded  me 
more  pleasure  than  the  theatre  often  gives  me. 

July  7th.  —  I  was  busied  about  many  things  this  forenoon. 
I  went  for  a  short  time  to  the  King's  Bench.  Then  looked 
over  Hamond's  papers,  and  went  to  Saunders's  sale.  Dined 
hastily  in  Coleman  Street,  and  then  went  to  Mrs.  Barbauld's, 
where  I  was  soon  joined  by  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb.  This 
was  a  meeting  I  had  brought  about  to  gratify  mutual  cu- 
riosity. The  Lambs  are  pleased  with  Mrs.  Barbauld,  and 
therefore  it  is  probable  that  they  have  pleased  her.  Mrs.  C. 
Aikin  was  there,  and  Miss  Lawrence.  Lamb  was  chatty,  and 
suited  his  conversation  to  his  company,  except  that,  speaking 
of  Gilbert  Wakefield,  he  said  he  had  a  peevish  face.  When  he 
was  told  Mrs.  Aikin  was  Gilbert  Wakefield's  daughter,  he  was 
vexed,  but  got  out  of  the  scrape  tolerably  well.  I  walked  with 
the  Lambs  by  the  turnpike,  and  then  came  home,  not  to  go  to 
bed,  but  to  sit  up  till  the  Norwich  coach  should  call  for  me. 
I  had  several  letters  to  write,  which  with  packing,  drinking 
chocolate,  &c.  fully  occupied  my  time,  so  that  I  had  no  ennui, 
though  I  was  unable  to  read. 

Rem.^  —  One  evening,  when  I  was  at  the  Aikins',  Charles 
Lamb  told  a  droll  story  of  an  India-house  clerk  accused  of 
eating  man's  flesh,  and  remarked  that  among  cannibals  those 
who  rejected  the  favorite  dish  would  be  called  misanthropists. 

July  2Sd. — Finished  Johnson's  Hebrides."  I  feel  ashamed 
of  the  delight  it  once  afibrded  me.  The  style  is  so  pompous, 
the  thoughts  so  ordinary,  with  so  little  feeling,  or  imagination, 
or  knowledge.  Yet  I  once  admired  it.  What  assurance  have 
I  that  I  may  not  hereafter  think  as  meanly  of  the  books  I  now 
admire  % 

August  12th,  —  (Bury.)  I  went  with  Pryme  f  to  see  the  jail, 
which,  notwithstanding  its  celebrity,  I  had  not  visited.  There  I 
saw  neither  a  filthy  assemblage  of  wretches  brought  together  to 
be  instructed  for  future  crimes  rather  than  punished  for  past, 
nor  a  place  of  ease  and  comfort,  inviting  rather  than  deterring 
to  the  criminal.  The  garden,  yards,  and  buildings  have  an  air 
of  great  neatness  ;  but  this  can  hardly  be  a  recommendation 
to  the  prisoners.  They  are  separated  by  many  subdivisions, 
and  constantly  exposed  to  inspection.    In  the  day  they  work 

*  Written  in  1849. 

t  A  fellow-circuiteer  of  H.  C.  R.'s,  long  M.  P.  for  Cambridge.  He  died  Dec. 
19,1868. 


460     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  25. 


at  a  mill,  and  at  night  all  are  secluded.  Each  has  his 
little  cell.  The  all-important  thing  is  to  avoid  letting  crimi- 
nals be  together  in  idleness.  To  a  spectator  there  is  nothing 
offensive  in  this  prison.  And  certainly  if  its  arrangements 
were  followed  universally,  much  misery  would  be  prevented 
and  good  service  rendered  to  morality. 

[In  the  autumn  of  this  year  Mr.  Eobinson  made  a  tour  to 
Scotland  of  a  little  over  a  month.  The  chief  personal  recollec- 
tions are  all  that  will  be  given  here.  —  Ed.] 

August  29tlu  —  Visited  Dryburgh  Abbey.  A  day  of  interest, 
apart  from  the  beauties  of  my  walk.  Mrs.  Masquerier  had 
given  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  well-known  Earl  of  Bu- 
chan,  —  a  character.  He  married  her  aunt,  who  was  a  Forbes. 
Lord  Buchan,  who  was  advanced  in  years,  had,  by  a  life  of 
sparing,  restored  in  a  great  measure  the  family  from  its  sunken 
state  ;  but,  in  doing  this,  he  had  to  endure  the  reproach  of 
penurious  habits,  while  his  two  younger  brothers  acquired  a  bril- 
liant reputation  :  one  was  Lord  Erskine,  the  most  perfect  of 
nisi  prius  orators,  and  one  of  the  poorest  of  English  Chancel- 
lors,—  the  other,  Henry  Erskine,  the  elder  brother,  enjoyed 
a  higher  reputation  among  friends,  but,  in  the  inferior  sphere 
of  the  Scotch  courts,  could  not  attain  to  an  equally  wide-spread 
celebrity.  Lord  Buchan  had  been  a  dilettante  in  letters.  He 
had  written  a  life  of  Thomson  the  poet,  and  of  the  patriotic 
orator,  Fletcher  of  Saltoun,  the  great  opponent  of  the  Scottish 
union. 

Before  I  was  introduced  to  the  Earl,  I  saw  in  the  grounds 
ample  monuments  of  his  taste  and  character.  He  received  me 
cordially.  He  being  from  home  when  I  called,  I  left  my  let- 
ter, and  walked  in  the  grounds.  On  my  return,  he  himself 
opened  the  door  for  me,  and  said  to  the  servant :  Show  Mr. 
Robinson  into  his  bedroom.    You  will  spend  the  day  here." 

He  was  manifestly  proud  of  his  alliance  with  the  royal 
house  of  the  Stuarts,  but  was  not  offended  with  the  free  manner 
in  which  I  spoke  of  the  contemptible  pedant  James  I.  of  Eng- 
land. He  exhibited  many  relics  of  the  unfortunate  Mary  ; 
and  (says  my  journal)  enumerated  to  me  many  of  his  ancestors, 
whom  my  imperfect  recollections  would  have  designated 
rather  as  infamous  than  illustrious."  But  no  man  of  family 
ever  heartily  despised  birth.  He  was  a  stanch  Whig,  but  had 
long  retired  from  politics.  He  was  proud  of  his  brother,  the 
great  English  orator,  but  lamented  his  acceptance  of  the  Chan- 
cellorship.   "  I  wrote  him  a  letter,"  said  the  Earl,  "  ojBfering, 


1821.] 


ANTHONY  ROBINSON,  JUN.  —  BURKING. 


461 


if  he  would  decline  tlie  office,  to  settle  my  estate  on  his  eldest 
son.  Unluckily,  he  did  not  receive  my  letter  until  it  was  too 
late,  or  he  might  have  accepted  my  offer ;  his  mind  was  so 
confused  when  he  announced  the  fact  of  the  appointment,  that 
he  signed  his  letter  ^  Buchan.' " 

The  next  day  I  left  Dryburgh,  furnished  with  a  useful  letter 
to  the  Scotch  antiquar}^  and  bookseller,  David  Laing,  who  ren- 
dered me  obliging  offices  at  Edinburgh.  I  had  also  a  letter  to 
the  famous  Sir  James  Sinclair,  the  agriculturist,  which  I  was 
not  anxious  to  deliver,  as  in  it  I  was  foolishly  characterized  as 
a  ^'really  learned  person,"  this  being  provably  false.  "The 
praises,"  says  my  journal,  "  usually  contained  in  letters  of  the 
kind  one  may  swallow,  because  they  never  mean  more  than  that 
the  writer  likes  the  object  of  them."  Lord  Buchan  offered  me 
a  letter  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  which  I  declined.  I  found  that 
he  had  no  liking  for  Sir  Walter,  and  I  was  therefore  sure  that 
Sir  Walter  had  no  liking  for  him ;  and  it  is  bad  policy  to  de- 
liver such  letters.  I  regretted  much  that  a  letter  from  Words- 
worth to  Scott  reached  me  too  late ;  that  I  should  have  rejoiced 
to  deliver. 

My  first  concern  at  Edinburgh  was  to  see  Anthony 
Robinson,  Jun.  He  showed  me  such  of  the  curiosities  of  the 
place  as  were  known  to  him.  In  his  sitting-room  I  com- 
plained of  an  offensive  smell,  which  he  explained  by  opening  a 
closet  door,  and  producing  some  human  limbs.  He  had  bought 
these  of  the  resurrection-men.  He  afterwards  disappeared ; 
and  on  his  father's  death,  a  commission  was  sent  to  Scotland 
to  collect  evidence  respecting  Anthony  Eobinson,  Jun.,  from 
which  it  was  ascertained  that  he  had  not  been  heard  of  for 
years.  He  had  left  his  clothes,  &c.  at  Perth,  and  had  gone  to 
Edinburgh  to  continue  his  studies  ;  and  it  was  at  Edinburgh 
that  he  was  last  heard  of  This  being  just  before  the  dreadful 
exposure  took  place  of  the  murders  effected  by  hiirlcing,  my 
speculation  was  that  poor  Anthony  was  one  of  the  victims. 

2d  Se2:ftember  [Sunday),  —  Mr.  David  Laing  took  me  to  hear 
Dr.  Thomson,  a  very  eminent  Scotch  preacher,  who  had  at 
Edinburgh  the  like  pre-eminence  which  Dr.  Chalmers  had  at 
Glasgow.  But  he  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  mere  orator,  profiting 
by  a  sonorous  voice  and  a  commanding  countenance.  This, 
however,  may  be  an  erroneous  judgment. 

This  same  day  originated  an  acquaintance  of  which  I  will 
now  relate  the  beginning  and  the  end.  Walking  with  Laing,  he 
pointed  out  to  me  a  young  man.    "  That,"  said  he,    is  James 


462     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  25. 

Grahame,  nephew  of  the  poet  of  ^  The  Sabbath.'  "  I  begged 
Laing  to  introduce  me.  His  father's  acquaintance  I  had  made 
at  Mr.  Clarkson's.  This  produced  a  very  cordial  reception, 
and  after  spending  a  day  (the  3d)  in  a  walk  to  Eoslin  and 
Hawthornden  (of  which,  if  I  said  anything  on  such  subjects,  I 
should  have  much  to  say),  I  went  to  an  evening  partj^  at  Mr. 
Grahame's.  Laing  was  there,  and  my  journal  mentions  a  Sir 
W.  Hamilton,  the  same  man,  I  have  no  doubt,  who  has  lately 
been  involved  in  a  controversy  with  our  (University  College) 
Professor  De  Morgan  on  logic.  My  journal  speaks  of  him  as, 
according  to  Laing,  a  young  lawyer  of  brilliant  talents,  a  pro- 
found thinker,  and  conversant  with  German  philosophy  and 
literature. 

On  the  9th  of  September  an  incident  occurred  especially 
amusing  in  connection  with  what  took  place  immediately 
afterwards.  I  rose  very  early  to  see  a  new  place,  and  (it  was 
between  six  and  seven)  seeing  a  large  building,  I  asked  a  man, 
who  looked  like  a  journeyman  weaver,  what  it  was.  He  told 
me  a  grammar-school.  But,  sir,"  he  added,  I  think  it  would 
become  you  better  on  the  Lord's  day  morning  to  be  reading 
your  Bible  at  home,  than  asking  about  public  buildings."  I 
very  quickly  answered  :  My  friend,  you  have  given  me  a  piece 
of  very  good  advice  ;  let  me  give  you  one,  and  we  may  both 
profit  by  our  meeting.  Beware  of  spiritual  pride."  The 
man  scowled  with  a  Scotch  surliness,  and,  apparently,  did  not 
take  my  counsel  with  as  much  good-humor  as  I  did  his. 

It  was  after  this  that  I  heard  Dr.  Chalmers  preach.  Tn  the 
forenoon  it  was  a  plain  discourse  to  plain  people,  in  a  sort  of 
school.  In  the  afternoon  it  was  a  splendid  discourse,  in  the 
Tron  Church,  against  the  Judaical  observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
which  he  termed  "  an  expedient  for  pacifying  the  jealousies  of 
a  God  of  vengeance,"  —  reprobating  the  operose  drudgery  of 
such  Sabbaths.  He  represented  the  whole  value  of  Sabbath 
observance  to  lie  in  its  being  a  free  and  ivilling  service,  —  a 
foretaste  of  heaven.  If  you  cannot  breathe  in  comfort  here, 
you  cannot  breathe  in  heaven  hereafter."  Many  years  after- 
wards, I  mentioned  this  to  Irving,  who  was  then  the  colleague 
of  Chalmers,  and  already  spoken  of  as  his  rival  in  eloquence, 
and  he  told  me  that  the  Deacons  waited  on  the  Doctor  to 
remonstrate  with  him  on  the  occasion  of  this  sermon. 

That  I  may  conclude  with  Dr.  Chalmers  now,  let  me  here 
say,  that  I  was  as  much  gratified  with  him  as  I  was  dissatisfied 
with  Andrew  Thomson  ;  that  he  appeared  absorbed  in  his 


1821.] 


WORDSWORTH'S  "  BROWNIE." 


463 


subject,  utterly  free  from  ostentation,  and  forgetful  of  himself 
I  admired  him  highly,  ranking  him  with  Robert  Hall ;  but  I 
heard  him  once  too  often.  On  my  return  from  the  Highlands, 
I  heard  him  on  the  30th  of  September,  in  the  morning,  on  the 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  declared  to  be  no  par- 
ticular sin,  but  a  general  indisposition  to  the  Gospel.  ^'  It 
can't  be  forgiven,"  he  said,  because  the  sinner  can't  comply 
with  the  condition,  —  desire  to  be  forgiven."  But  it  was  the 
evening  sermon  which  left  a  painful  impression  on  my  mind. 
He  affirmed  the  doctrine  of  original  sin  in  its  most  offensive 
form.    He  declined  to  explain  it. 

The  elder  Mr.  Grahame  was  one  of  the  leading  members  of 
the  Doctor's  congregation.  He  is  very  much  like  his  son,  only 
milder,  because  older.  He  had  another  son,  still  living,  and 
whom  I  saw  now  and  then.  This  was  Tom  Grahame,  an 
incarnation  of  the  old  Covenanter,  a  fierce  radical  and  ultra- 
Calvinist,  who  has  a  warm-hearted,  free  way,  which  softens  his 
otherwise  bitter  religious  spirit. 

On  September  16th  I  had  a  little  adventure.  Being  on  the 
western  side  of  Loch  Lomond,  opposite  the  Mill,  at  Inversnaid, 
some  women  kindled  a  fire,  the  smoke  of  which  was  to  be  a 
signal  for  a  ferry-boat.  No  ferryman  came  ;  and  a  feeble  old 
man  offering  himself  as  a  boatman,  I  intrusted  myself  to  him. 
I  asked  the  women  who  he  was.  They  said,  That 's  old  An- 
drew." According  to  their  account,  he  lived  a  hermit's  life  in 
a  lone  island  on  the  lake  ;  the  poor  peasantry  giving  him  meal 
and  what  he  wanted,  and  he  picking  up  pence.  On  my  asking 
him  whether  he  would  take  me  across  the  lake,  he  said,  I 
wuU,  if  you'll  gi'e  me  saxpence."  So  I  consented.  But 
before  I  was  half  over,  I  repented  of  my  rashness,  for  I  feared 
the  oars  would  fall  out  of  his  hands.  A  breath  of  wind  would 
have  rendered  half  the  voyage  too  much  for  him.  There  was 
some  cunning  mixed  up  with  the  fellow's  seeming  imbecility, 
for  when  his  strength  was  failing  he  rested,  and  entered  into 
talk,  manifestly  to  amuse  me.  He  said  he  could  see  things 
before  they  happened.  He  saw  the  Radicals  before  they  came, 
&c.  He  had  picked  up  a  few  words  of  Spanish  and  German, 
which  he  uttered  ridiculously,  and  laughed.  But  when  I  put 
troublesome  questions,  he  affected  not  to  understand  me ;  and 
was  quite  astonished,  as  well  as  delighted,  when  I  gave  him 
two  sixpences  instead  of  the  one  he  had  bargained  for.  The 
simple-minded  women,  who  affected  to  look  down  on  him, 
seemed,  however,  to  stand  in  awe  of  him,  and  no  wonder.  On 


464    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  25. 

my  telling  Wordsworth  this  history,  he  exclaimed,  "  That 's 
my  '  Brownie.'  "  His  "  Brownie's  Cell "  *  is  by  no  means  one 
of  my  favorite  poems.  My  sight  of  old  Andrew  showed  me 
the  stuff  out  of  which  a  poetical  mind  can  weave  such  a  web. 

After  visiting  Stirling  and  Perth,  I  went  to  Crieff.  On  my 
way  I  met  a  little  Scotch  girl,  who  exhibited  a  favorable  speci- 
men of  the  national  character.  I  asked  the  name  of  the  gen- 
tleman whose  house  I  had  passed,  and  put  it  down  in  my 
pocket-book.  "  And  do  you  go  about  putting  people's  names 
in  your  book  '?  "  —  ^'  Yes."  —  "  And  what 's  the  use  of  it " 
Now  this  was  not  said  in  an  impertinent  tone,  as  if  she  thought 
I  was  doing  a  silly  act,  but  in  the  real  spirit  of  naif  inquiry. 

On  Saturday^  the  22d  of  September^  I  went  by  Comrie  to 
Loch  Earn  head.  On  Sunday,  the  23d,  by  Killin  to  Kenmore. 
I  put  down  names  of  places  which  I  would  gladly  see  again  in 
my  old  age.  This  day  I  witnessed  a  scene  which  still  rests  on 
my  eye  and  ear.  I  will  abridge  from  my  journal :  It  was 
in  the  forenoon,  a  few  miles  from  Kenmore,  when,  on  the  high- 
road, I  was  startled  by  a  screaming  noise,  which  I  at  first  mis- 
took for  quarrelling ;  till,  coming  to  a  hedge,  which  I  over- 
looked, I  beheld  a  scene  which  the  greatest  of  landscape-paint- 
ers in  the  historic  line  might  have  delighted  to  represent.  The 
sombre  hue  cast  over  the  field  reminded  me  of  Salvator  Eosa. 
I  looked  down  into  a  meadow,  at  the  bottom  of  which  ran  a 
brook ;  and  in  the  background  there  was  a  dark  mountain 
frowning  over  a  lake  somewhat  rippled  by  wind.  Against  a 
tree  on  the  river's  bank  was  placed  a  sort  of  box,  and  in  this 
was  a  preacher,  declaiming  in  the  Gaelic  tongue  to  an  audience 
full  of  admiration.  On  the  rising  hill  before  him  were  some 
two  or  three  hundred  listeners.  Far  the  greater  number  were 
lying  in  groups,  but  some  standing.  Among  those  present  were 
ladies  genteelly  dressed.  In  the  harsh  sounds  which  grated  on 
my  ear  I  could  not  distinguish  a  word,  except  a  few  proper 
names  of  Hebrew  persons." 

On  September  the  29th,  from  Lanark,  I  visited  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton's  palace,  and  had  unusual  pleasure  in  the  paintings 
to  be  seen  there.  I  venture  to  copy  my  remarks  on  the  fa- 
mous Rubens's  Daniel  in  the  Lion's  Den"  :  "  The  variety  of 
character  in  the  lions  is  admirable.  Here  is  indignation  at  the 
unintelligible  power  which  restrains  them  ;  there  reverence  to- 
wards the  being  whom  they  dare  not  touch.    One  of  them  is 

*  See  Wordsworth's  "Memorials  of  a  Tour  in  Scotland  in  1814,"  Vol.  III. 
p.  44. 


1821.] 


AMBLESIDE.  —  DE  QUINCEY. 


465 


consoled  by  the  contemplation  of  the  last  skull  he  has  been 
picking ;  one  is  anticipating  his  next  meal ;  two  are  debating 
the  subject  together.  But  the  Prophet,  with  a  face  resembling 
Curran's  (foreshortened  *  so  as  to  lose  its  best  expression),  has 
all  the  muscles  of  his  countenance  strained  from  extreme  ter- 
ror. He  is  without  joy  or  hope  ;  and  though  his  doom  is 
postponed,  he  has  no  faith  in  the  miracle  which  is  to  rew^ard 
his  integrity.  It  is  a  painting  rather  to  astonish  than  de- 
light." 

On  the  1st  of  October  I  passed  a  place  the  name  of  which  I 
could  not  have  recollected  twelve  hours  but  for  the  charm  of 
verse  :  — 

"  I  wish  I  were  where  Ellen  lies, 
By  fair  Kirkconnel  Lea." 

On  returning  to  England,  a  stout  old  lady,  our  coach  com- 
panion, rejoiced  heartily  that  she  w^as  again  in  old  England,  a 
mean  rivulet  being  the  insignificant  boundary.  This  feeling 
she  persisted  in  retaining,  though  an  act  of  disobedience  to 
the  law  which  annihilated  England  as  a  state,  and  though  our 
supper  was  w^orse  than  any  lately  partaken  of  by  any  of  us  in 
Scotland. 

October  JftK  —  I  went  to  Ambleside,  and  for  four  days  I  was 
either  there  or  at  Eydal  Mount.  My  last  year's  journey  in 
Switzerland  had  improved  my  acquaintance  with  the  Words- 
worth family,  and  raised  it  to  friendship.  But  my  time  was 
short,  and  I  have  nothing  to  record  beyond  this  fact,  that  Mrs. 
Wordsworth  was  then  in  attendance  upon  a  lady  in  a  fever, 
consequent  on  lying  in,  —  Mrs.  Quillinan,  a  lady  I  never 
saw,  a  daughter  of  Sir  Egerton  Brydges. 

October  7th.  —  My  journal  mentions  (what  does  not  belong 
to  my  recollections,  but  to  my  obliviscences)  an  able  pamphlet 
by  Mr.  De  Quincey  against  Brougham,  written  during  the  late 
election,  entitled,  "  Close  Comments  on  a  Straggling  Speech," 
a  capital  title,  at  all  events.    All  that  De  Quincey  wrote,  or 

*  Daniel's  head  is  thrown  back,  and  he  looks  upwards  with  an  earnest 
expression  and  clasped  hands,  as  if  vehemently  supplicating.  The  picture 
formerly  belonged  to  King  Charles  L  It  was  at  that  time  entered  as  fol- 
lows in'^the  Catalogue  of  the  Royal  Pictures:  "  A  piece  of  Daniel  in  the  Lion's 
Den  with  lions  about  him,  given  by  the  deceased  Lord  Dorchester  to  the  King, 
being  so  big  as  the  life.  Done  by  Sir  Peter  Paul  Rubens."  Dr.  Waagen  very 
justly  observes  that,  upon  the  whole,  the  figure  of  Daniel  is  only  an  accessory 
employed  by  the  great  master  to  introduce,  in  the  most  perfect  form,  nine 
figures  of  lions  and  lionesses  the  size  of  life.  Rubens,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Dud- 
ley Carleton  (who  presented  the  picture  to  the  King),  dated  April  28, 1618,  ex- 
pressly states  that  'it  was  wholly  his  own  workmanship.  The  price  was  600 
florins.   Engraved  in  mezzotint  by  W.  Ward,  1789. 

20*  DD 


466     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  25. 

writes,  is  curious,  if  not  valuable ;  commencing  with  his  best- 
known  "  Confessions  of  an  English  Opium-Eater,"  and  ending 
with  his  scandalous  but  painfully  interesting  "  Autobiography," 
in  TaWs  Magazine. 

October  23d, —  To  London  on  the  Bury  coach,  and  enjoyed 
the  ride.  Storks,  Dover,  Rolfe,  and  Andrews  were  inside  play- 
ing whist.  I  was  outside  reading.  I  read  Cantos  III.,  IV., 
and  Y.  of  "  Don  Juan."  I  was  amused  by  parts.  There  is  a 
gayety  which  is  agreeable  enough  when  it  is  playful  and  ironi- 
cal, and  here  it  is  less  malignant  than  it  is  in  some  of  Byron's 
writings.  The  gross  violations  of  decorum  and  morality  one 
is  used  to.    I  felt  no  resentment  at  the  lines, 

*'  A  drowsy,  frowzy  poem  called  '  The  Excursion,* 
Writ  in  a  manner  which  is  my  aversion,"  * 

nor  at  the  affected  contempt  throughout  towards  Wordsworth. 
There  are  powerful  descriptions,  and  there  is  a  beautiful  Hymn 
to  Greece.  I  began  Madame  de  Stael's  "  Ten  Years'  Exile." 
She  writes  with  eloquence  of  Buonaparte,  and  her  egotism  is  by 
no  means  offensive. 

October  26th,  —  Met  Charles  Aikin.  I  saw  he  had  a  hatband, 
and  he  shocked  me  by  the  intelligence  of  his  wife's  death.  I 
saw  her  a  few  days  before  I  set  off  on  my  journey.  She  then 
appeared  to  be  in  her  usual  health.  The  conversation  between 
us  was  not  remarkable ;  but  I  never  saw  her  without  pleasure, 
or  left  her  without  a  hope  I  should  see  her  again.  She  was  a 
very  amiable  woman.  She  brought  to  the  family  a  valuable 
accession  of  feeling.  To  her  I  owe  my  introduction  to  Mrs. 
Barbauld.  I  have  been  acquainted  with  her,  though  without 
great  intimacy,  twenty-four  years.  She  was  Gilbert  Wakefield's 
eldest  daughter,  and  not  much  younger  than  myself 

November  2d,  —  Finished  Madame  de  Stael's  "  Ten  Years' 
Exile."  A  very  interesting  book  in  itself,  and  to  me  especially 
interesting  on  account  of  my  acquaintance  with  the  author. 
Her  sketches  of  Russian  manners  and  society  are  very  spirited, 
and  her  representation  of  her  own  sufferings  under  Buonaparte's 
persecutions  is  as  eloquent  as  her  novels.  The  style  is  ani- 
mated, and  her  declamations  against  Napoleon  are  in  her  best 
manner. 

November  7th.  —  Called  on  De  Quincey  to  speak  about  the 
Classical  Journal.  I  have  recommended  him  to  Valpy,  who 
will  be  glad  of  his  assistance.     De  Quincey  speaks  highly  of 


*  "Don  Juan,"  Canto  III.  v.  94. 


1821.] 


LORD  MAYOR'S  DINNER. 


467 


the  liberality  of  Taylor  and  Hessey,  who  gave  him  forty  guineas 
for  his    Opium  Eater." 

November  9th.  —  Dined  at  Guildhall.  About  five  hundred 
persons  present,  perhaps  six  hundred.  The  tables  were  in  five 
lines  down  the  hall.  Gas  illumination.  The  company  all  well 
dressed  at  least.  The  ornaments  of  the  hustings,  with  the 
cleaned  statues,  (fee,  rendered  the  scene  an  imposing  one.  I 
dined  in  the  King's  Bench,  a  quiet  place,  and  fitter  for  a  sub- 
stantial meal  than  the  great  hall.  I  was  placed  next  to  Croly 
(newspaper  writer  and  poet),  and  near  several  persons  of  whom 
I  knew  something,  so  that  I  did  not  want  for  society.  Our 
dinner  was  good,  but  ill-served  and  scanty.  As  soon  as  we  had 
finished  a  hasty  dessert,  I  went  into  the  great  hall,  where  I  was 
amused  by  walking  about.  I  ascended  a  small  gallery  at  the 
top  of  the  hall,  whence  the  view  below  was  very  fine  ;  and  I 
afterwards  chatted  with  Firth,  <fec.  Some  dozen  judges  and 
sergeants  were  really  ludicrous  objects  in  their  full-bottomed 
wigs  and  scarlet  robes.  The  Dukes  of  York  and  Wellington, 
and  several  Ministers  of  State,  gave  eclat  to  the  occasion. 

November  18th.  —  I  stepped  into  the  Lambs'  cottage  at  Dal- 
ston.  Mary,  pale  and  thin,  just  recovered  from  one  of  her  at- 
tacks. They  have  lost  their  brother  John,  and  feel  their  loss. 
They  seemed  softened  by  affliction,  and  to  wish  for  society. 

Poor  old  Ca]3tain  Burney  died  on  Saturday.  The  rank 
Captain  had  become  a  misnomer,  but  I  cannot  call  him  other- 
wise. He  was  made  Admiral  a  few  weeks  ago.  He  was  a  fine 
old  man.*    His  whist  parties  were  a  great  enjoyment  to  me. 

December  11th,  —  Dined  with  Monkhouse.  Tom  Clarkson 
went  with  me.  The  interest  of  the  evening  arose  from  MSS. 
of  poems  by  Wordsworth,  on  the  subject  of  our  journey.  After 
waiting  so  long  without  writing  anything,  —  so  at  least  I  under- 
stood when  in  Cumberland,  —  the  fit  has  come  on  him,  and 
within  a  short  time  he  has  composed  a  number  of  delightful 
little  poems ;  and  Miss  Hutchison  writes  to  Mr.  Monkhouse 
that  he  goes  on  writing  with  great  activity,  f 

December  Slst.  —  At  Flaxman's,  where  I  spent  several  hours 
very  pleasantly.  We  talked  of  animal  magnetism.  Flaxman 
declared  he  believed  it  to  be  fraud  and  imposition,  an  opinion 

*  The  circumnavigator  of  the  world  with  Captain  Cook,  and  historian  of 
circumnavigation.  A  humorous  old  man,  friend  of  Charles  Lamb,  son  of  Dr. 
Burney,  and  brother  of  Madame  d' Arblay.  Martin  Burney  was  his  son.  —  H. 
C.  R. 

t  These  poems  have  been  referred  to  in  connection  with  the  tour  which 
suggested  them. 


468     KEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  26, 

I  was  not  prepared  for  from  him.  But  the  conversation  led  to 
some  very  singular  observations  on  his  part,  which  show  a  state 
of  mind  by  no  means  unfit  for  the  reception  of  the  new  doctrine. 
He  spoke  of  his  dog's  habit  of  fixing  her  eye  upon  him  when  she 
wanted  food,  &c.,  so  that  he  could  not  endure  the  sight,  and  was 
forced  to  drive  her  away  :  this  he  called  an  animal  power  ;  and 
he  intimated  also  a  belief  in  demoniacal  influence  ]  so  that  it 
was  not  clear  to  me  that  he  did  not  think  that  animal  magne- 
tism was  somewhat  criminal,  allowing  its  pretensions  to  be  well 
founded,  rather  than  supposing  them  to  be  vain.  There  is  fre- 
quently an  earnestness  that  becomes  uncomfortable  to  listen  to 
when  Flaxman  talks  with  religious  feeling. 

Eem.^  —  My  Diary  mentions  "  John  Wood,  a  lively  genteel 
young  man  !  "  Now  he  is  a  man  of  importance  in  the  state, 
being  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Inland  Revenue.  He  was 
previously  the  head  of  the  Stamp  Office  and  Chairman  of  Ex- 
cise. In  the  latter  capacity  he  lately  eflected  great  economical 
reforms.  He  is  a  rare  example  of  independence  and  courage, 
not  renouncing  the  profession  of  his  unpopular  religious  opin- 
ions. 

My  practice  this  year  was  as  insignificant  as  ever,  even  fall- 
ing off  in  the  amount  it  produced  ;  the  fees  being  572 J  guineas, 
whereas  in  1820  they  were  663. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
1822. 

JANUABY  10th.  —  At  twelve  Monkhouse  called.  I  walked 
with  him  and  had  a  high  treat  in  a  call  at  Chantrey's,  hav- 
ing to  speak  with  him  about  Wordsworth's  bust.  What  a  con- 
trast to  Flaxman  !  A  sturdy,  florid-looking  man,  with  a  gen- 
eral resemblance  in  character  to  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  both  look- 
ing more  like  men  of  business  and  the  world  than  artists  or 
students.  Chantrey  talks  with  the  ease  of  one  who  is  familiar 
with  good  company,  and  with  the  confidence  of  one  who  is 
conscious  of  his  fame.  His  study  is  rich  in  works  of  art.  His 
busts  are  admirable.    His  compositions  do  not  in  general  please 


*  Written  in  1851. 


1822.] 


DREAMS  AND  PROGNOSTICS. 


469 


me.    He  has  in  hand  a  fine  monument  of  Ellenborongh.  A 

good  likeness  too.* 

January  22d,  —  I  went  into  court  on  account  of  a  single 
defence,  which  unexpectedly  came  on  immediately,  and  having 
succeeded  in  obtaining  an  acquittal.  I  was  able  to  leave  Bury 
by  the  "  Day  "  coach.  I  had  an  agreeable  ride,  the  weather 
being  mild.  I  finished  Herodotus,"  a  book  which  has  greatly 
amused  me.  The  impression  most  frequently  repeated  during 
the  perusal  was  that  of  the  compatibility  of  great  moral  wis- 
dom with  gross  superstition.    It  is  impossible  to  deny  that 

Herodotus  "  encourages  by  his  silence,  if  not  by  more  express 
encouragement,  the  belief  in  outrageous  fictions.  The  fre- 
quency of  miracle  in  all  ancient  history  is  unfavorable  to  the 
belief  of  that  affirmed  in.  the  Jewish  history.  This  book  in- 
spires a  salutary  horror  of  political  despotism,  but  at  the  same 
time  a  dangerous  contempt  of  men  at  large,  and  an  uncomfort- 
able suspicion  of  the  pretensions  of  philosophers  and  patriots. 

February  25th,  —  I  went  to  Aders's,  and  found  him  and  his 
wife  alone.  An  interesting  conversation.  Mrs.  Aders  talked 
in  a  tone  of  religion  which  I  was  pleased  with.  At  the  same 
time  she  showed  a  tendency  to  superstition  which  I  could  only 
wonder  at.  She  has  repeatedly  had  dreams  of  events  which 
subsequently  occurred,  and  sometimes  with  circumstances  that 
rendered  the  coincidence  both  significant  and  wonderful.  One 
is  remarkable,  and  worth  relating.  She  dreamed,  when  in  Ger- 
many, that  a  great  illumination  took  place,  of  what  kind  she 
was  not  aware.  Two  luminous  balls  arose.  In  one  she  saw 
her  sister,  Mrs.  Longdale,  with  an  infant  child  in  her  arms. 
On  the  night  of  the  illumination  on  account  of  the  Coronation 
(years  after  the  dream),  she  was  called  by  Miss  Watson  into 
the  back  drawing-room,  to  see  a  ball  or  luminous  body  which 
had  been  let  off"  at  Hampstead.  She  went  into  the  room,  and 
on  a  sudden  it  flashed  on  her  mind  with  painful  feelings,  This 
was  what  I  saw  in  my  dream."  That  same  evening  her  sister 
died.    She  had  been  lately  brought  to  bed.    The  child  lived. 

*  Chantrey  was  an  excellent  bust-maker,  and  lie  executed  ably.  He 
wanted  poetry  and  imagination.  The  Children  in  Lichfield  Cathedral,  which 
might  have  given  him  reputation  with  posterity,  were  the  design  of  Stothard. 
It  is  to  Chantrey's  high  honor  that  he  left  a  large  portion  of  his  ample  fortune, 
after  the  death  of  his  widow,  for  the  encouragement  of  fine  art,  and  made  for 
that  purpose  wise  arrangements.  Lady  Chantrey  gave  all  his  casts,  &c.  to 
Oxford  University,  where  they  constitute  a  gallery.  Asking  Rogers  its  value 
lately,  he  said:  "  As  a  collection  of  historical  portraits,  they  are  of  great  val- 
ue; as  works  of  art,         snapping  his  fingers.  —  H.  C.  R. 


470     EEMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  26. 


H.  C.  E.  TO  Miss  Wordsworth. 

3  King's  Bench,  25th  February,  1822. 
I  am  indeed  a  very  bad  correspondent,  but  a  long  foolscap 
letter  was  written  more  than  a  fortnight  back,  when  I  met  Mr. 
Monkhouse,  and  he  told  me  what  rendered  my  letter  utterly 
inexpedient,  for  it  was  an  earnest  exhortation  to  you  and  Mrs. 
Wordsworth  to  urge  the  publication  of  the  delightful  poems, 
which  is  now  done  ;  and  the  expression  of  a  wish  that  one  of 
the  Journals  might  appear  also,  and  that  would  be  in  vain.  I 
am  heartily  glad  that  so  many  imperishable  records  will  be  left 
of  incidents  which  I  had  the  honor  of  partially  enjoying  with 
you.  The  only  drawback  on  my  pleasure  is,  that  I  fear  when 
the  book  is  once  published,  Mr.  Wordsworth  may  no  longer  be 
inclined  to  meditate  on  what  he  saw  and  felt,  and  therefore 
much  may  remain  unsaid  which  would  probably  have  appeared 
in  the  Memorials,  if  they  had  been  delayed  till  1823.  I  hope 
I  have  not  seen  all,  and  I  should  rejoice  to  find  among  the  un- 
seen poems  some  memorial  of  those  patriotic  and  pious  bridges 
at  Lucerne,  suggesting  to  so  generative  a  mind  as  your  broth- 
er's a  whole  cycle  of  religious  and  civic  sentiments.  The 
equally  affecting  Senate-house  not  made  by  hands,  at  Sarnen, 
where  the  rites  of  modern  legislation,  like  those  of  ancient  re- 
ligion, are  performed  in  the  open  air,  and  on  an  unadorned 
grass-plat !  !  !  But  the  poet  needs  no  prompter ;  I  shall  be 
grateful  to  him  for  what  he  gives,  and  have  no  right  to  reflect 
on  what  he  withholds.  I  wish  he  may  have  thought  proper  to 
preface  each  poem  by  a  brief  memorandum  in  prose.  Like  the 
great  poet  of  Germany,  with  whom  he  has  so  many  high 
powers  in  common,  he  has  a  strange  love  of  riddles,  Goethe 
carries  further  the  practice  of  not  giving  collateral  information : 
he  seems  to  anticipate  the  founding  of  a  college  for  the  de- 
livery of  explanatory  lectures  like  those  instituted  in  Tuscany 
for  Dante. 

My  last  letter,  which  I  destroyed,  was  all  about  the  poems. 
I  have  not  the  vanity  to  think  that  my  praise  can  gratify,  but 
I  ought  to  say,  since  the  verses  to  Goddard  were  my  sugges- 
tion, that  I  rejoice  in  my  good  deed.  It  is  instructive  to  ob- 
serve how  a  poet  sees  and  feels,  how  remote  from  ordinary 
sentiment,  and  yet  how  beautiful  and  true  !  Goethe  says  he 
had  never  an  affliction  which  he  did  not  turn  into  a  poem.  Mr. 
Wordsworth  has  shown  how  common  occurrences  are  trans- 


1822.] 


THE  LAMBS  AND  THEIR  GRIEF. 


471 


muted  into  poetry.  Midas  is  the  type  of  a  true  poet.  Of  the 
Stanzas,  I  love  most  —  loving  all —  the  Eclipse  of  the  Sun." 
Of  the  Sonnets,  there  is  one  remarkable  as  uniqiie  ;  the  humor 
and  naivete,  and  the  exquisitely  refined  sentiment  of  the  Ca- 
lais fishwomen,  are  a  combination  of  excellences  quite  novel. 
I  should,  perhaps,  have  given  the  preference  after  all  to  the 
Jungfrau  Sonnet,  but  it  wants  unity.  I  know  not  which  to  dis- 
tinguish, the  Simplon  Stone,  the  Bruges,  or  what-  else  %  I  have 
them  not  here.  Each  is  the  best  as  I  recollect  the  impression 
it  made  on  me  

Miss  Wordsworth  to  H.  C.  E,. 

3d  March,  1822. 

My  brother  will,  I  hope,  write  to  Charles  Lamb  in  the 
course  of  a  few  days.  He  has  long  talked  of  doing  it ;  but  you 
know  how  the  mastery  of  his  own  thoughts  (when  engaged  in 
composition,  as  he  has  lately  been)  often  prevents  him  from 
fulfilling  his  best  intentions  ;  and  since  the  weakness  of  his 
eyes  has  returned,  he  has  been  obliged  to  fill  up  all  spaces  of 
leisure  by  going  into  the  open  air  for  refreshment  and  relief 
of  his  eyes.  We  are  very  thankful  that  the  inflammation, 
chiefly  in  the  lids,  is  now  much  abated.  It  concerns  us  very 
much  to  hear  so  indifferent  an  account  of  Lamb  and  his  sis- 
ter j  the  death  of  their  brother,  no  doubt,  has  afflicted  them 
much  more  than  the  death  of  any  brother,  with  whom  there 
had,  in  near  neighborhood,  been  so  little  personal  or  family 
communication,  would  afflict  any  other  minds.  We  deeply 
lamented  their  loss,  and  wished  to  write  to  them  as  soon  as  we 
heard  of  it ;  but  it  not  being  the  particular  duty  of  any  one  of 
us,  and  a  painful  task,  we  put  it  off,  for  which  we  are  now 
sorry,  and  very  much  blame  ourselves.  They  are  too  good 
and  too  confiding  to  take  it  unkindly,  and  that  thought 

makes  us  feel  it  the  more  With  respect  to  the  tour 

poems,  I  am  afraid  you  will  think  my  brother's  notes  not 
sufficiently  copious  ;  prefaces  he  has  none,  except  to  the  poem 
on  Goddard's  death.  Your  suggestion  of  the  Bridge  at 
Lucerne  set  his  mind  to  work ;  and  if  a  happy  mood  comes  on 
he  is  determined  even  yet,  though  the  work  is  printed,  to  add 
a  poem  on  that  subject.  You  can  have  no  idea  with  what 
earnest  pleasure  he  seized  the  idea ;  yet,  before  he  began  to 
write  at  all,  when  he  was  pondering  over  his  recollections,  and 
asking  me  for  hints  and  thoughts,  I  mentioned  that  very  sub- 


472     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  26. 

ject,  and  he  then  thought  he  could  make  nothing  of  it.  You 
certainly  have  the  gift  of  setting  him  on  fire.  When  I  named 
(before  your  letter  was  read  to  him)  your  scheme  for  next 
autumn,  his  countenance  flushed  with  pleasure,  and  he  ex- 
claimed, "  I  '11  go  with  him."  Presently,  however,  the  con- 
versation took  a  sober  turn,  and  he  concluded  that  the  jour- 
ney would  be  impossible ;  "  And  then,"  said  he,  "  if  you  or 
Mary,  or  both,  were  not  with  me,  I  should  not  half  enjoy  it ; 
and  that  is  impossible."  ....  We  have  had  a  long  and 
interesting  letter  from  Mrs.  Clarkson.  Notwithstanding  bad 
times,  she  writes  in  cheerful  spirits  and  talks  of  coming  into 
the  North  this  summer,  and  we  really  hope  it  will  not  end 
in  talk,  as  Mr.  Clarkson  joins  with  her  ;  and  if  he  once 
determines,  a  trifle  will  not  stop  him.  Pray  read  a  paper 
in  the  London  Magazine^  by  Hartley  Coleridge,  on  the  Uses 
of  the  Heathen  Mythology  in  Poetry.  It  has  pleased  us 
very  much.    The  style  is  wonderful  for  so  young  a  man,  — 

so  little  of  effort  and  no  affectation  

Dorothy  Wordsworth. 

March  1st  —  Came  home  early  from  Aders's  to  read  Cain." 
The  author  has  not  advanced  any  novelties  in  his  speculations 
on  the  origin  of  evil,  but  he  has  stated  one  or  two  points  with 
great  effect.  The  book  is  calculated  to  spread  infidelity  by 
furnishing  a  ready  expression  to  difficulties  Avhich  must  occur 
to  every  one,  more  or  less,  and  which  are  passed  over  by  those 
who  confine  themselves  to  scriptural  representations.  The 
second  act  is  full  of  poetic  energy,  and  there  is  some  truth  of 
passion  in  the  scenes  between  Cain's  wife  and  himself. 

April  8th,  —  I  had  a  very  pleasant  ride  to  London  from 
Bury.  The  day  was  fine,  and  was  spent  in  reading  half  a 
volume  of  amusing  gossip,  —  D'Israeli  on  the  literary  character, 
in  which  the  good  and  evil  of  that  by  me  most  envied  character 
are  displayed  so  as  to  repress  envy  without  destroying  respect. 
Yet  I  would,  after  all,  gladly  exchange  some  portion  of  my 
actual  enjoyments  for  the  intenser  pleasures  of  a  more  intel- 
lectual kind,  though  blended  with  pains  and  sufferings  from 
which  I  am  free. 

April  10th.  — As  I  sat  down  to  dinner,  a  young  man  intro- 
duced himself  to  me  by  saying,  ^'  My  name  is  Poel."  —  A  son 
of  my  old  friend  at  Altona  !  "  I  answered ;  and  I  was  heartily 
glad  to  see  him.  Indeed  the  sight  of  him  gave  my  mind  such 
a  turn,  that  I  could  scarcely  attend  to  the  rest  of  the  company. 


1822.] 


FLAXMAN  AMONG  STATESMEN. 


473 


Poel  was  but  a  boy  in  1807.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  I 
had  no  recollection  of  him.  He,  however,  recognized  me  in  a 
moment,  and  he  says  I  do  not  appear  in  the  slightest  degree 
altered.  I  should  have  had  a  much  heartier  pleasure  in  seeing 
him  had  I  not  known  that  his  mother  died  but  a  few  months 
ago.  She  was  a  most  amiable  and  a  superior  woman.  The 
father  is  now  advanced  in  years,  but  he  retains,  the  son  tells 
me,  all  his  former  zeal  for  liberty.* 

April  ISth,  —  Took  tea  with  the  Flaxmans,  and  read  to  them 
extracts  from  Wordsworth's  new  poems,  "  The  Memorials." 
And  I  ended  the  evening  by  going  to  Drury  Lane  to  see 
"  Giovanni  in  London,"  a  very  amusing  extravaganza.  Madame 
Yestris  is  a  fascinating  creature,  and  renders  the  Don  as  enter- 
taining as  possible.  And  at  the  same  time  there  is  an  air  of 
irony  and  mere  wanton  and  assumed  wickedness,  w^hich  renders 
the  piece  harmless  enough.  The  parodies  on  well-known 
songs,  &c.  are  well  executed. 

April  29th.  — Walked  to  Hammersmith  and  back.  On  my 
way  home  I  fell  into  chat  with  a  shabby-looking  fellow,  a 
master-bricklayer,  whose  appearance  was  that  of  a  very  low 
person,  but  his  conversation  quite  surprised  me.  He  talked 
about  trade  with  the  know^ledge  of  a  practical  man  of  business, 
enlightened  by  those  principles  of  political  economy  which 
indeed  are  become  common  ;  but  I  did  not  think  they  had 
alighted  on  the  hod  and  trowel.  He  did  not  talk  of  the  books 
of  Adam  Smith,  but  seemed  imbued  with  their  spirit. 

May  7th.  —  I  took  tea  with  the  Flaxmans.  Flaxman  related 
with  undesigned  humor  some  circumstances  of  the  dinner  of 
the  Royal  Academy  on  Saturday.  He  was  seated  between 
Cabinet  Ministers !  Such  a  man  to  be  placed  near  and 
to  be  expected  to  hold  converse  w^ith  Lord  Liverpool  and 
the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and 
Chateaubriand  !  A  greater  contrast  cannot  be  conceived  than 
between  an  artist  absorbed  in  his  art,  of  the  simplest  manners, 
the  purest  morals,  incapable  of  intrigue  or  artifice,  a  genius  in 
his  art,  of  pious  feelings  and  an  unworldly  spirit,  and  a  set  of 
statesmen  and  courtiers  !  The  only  part  of  the  conversation 
he  gave  was  a  dispute  whether  spes  makes  spei  in  the  genitive, 
which  was  referred  to  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench. 
Flaxman  spoke  favorably  of  the  conversation  and  manners 
of  Lord  Harrowby. 

May  18th,  —  Took  tea  w^ith  the  Nashes,  and  accompanied 


*  See  ante,  p.  153. 


474     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  26. 


Elizabeth  and  .  Martha  to  Mathews's  Mimetic  Exhibition.  I 
was  delighted  with  some  parts.  In  a  performance  of  three 
hours'  duration  there  could  not  fail  to  be  flat  and  uninteresting 
scenes ;  e.  g.  his  attempt  at  representing  Curran  was  a  com- 
plete failure.  I  was  much  pleased  with  a  representation  of 
John  Wilkes  admonishing  him,  Mathews,  when  bound  appren- 
tice ;  Tate  Wilkinson's  talking  on  three  or  four  subjects  at  once, 
and  an  Irish  party  at  whist.    I  really  do  believe  he  has  seen 

F  ,  so  completely  has  he  copied  his  voice  and  his  words. 

These  were  introduced  in  a  sort  of  biography  of  himself  In 
a  second  part  of  the  entertainment,  three  characters  were  per- 
fect, —  a  servant  scrubbing  his  miserly  master's  coat,  a  French 
music-master  in  the  character  of  Cupid  in  a  ballet,  and  (the 
very  best)  a  steward  from  a  great  dinner-party  relating  the 
particulars  of  the  dinner.  He  was  half  drunk,  and,  I  know 
not  how,  Mathews  so  completely  changed  his  face  that  he  was 
not  to  be  known  again.  The  fat  Welshman,  the  miser,  and  the 
lover,  were  less  successful. 

May  22d.  —  I  read  a  considerable  part  of  Eitson's  "  Robin 
Hood  Ballads,"  recommendable  for  the  information  they  com- 
municate concerning  the  state  of  society,  rather  than  for  the 
poetry,  which  is,  I  think,  far  below  the  average  of  our  old 
ballads. 

May  23d.  —  Visited  Stonehenge,  a  very  singular  and  most 
remarkable  monument  of  antiquity,  exciting  surprise  by  the 
display  of  mechanical  power,  which  baffles  research  into  its 
origin  and  purposes,  and  leaves  an  impression  of  wonder  that 
such  an  astonishing  work  should  not  have  preserved  the  name 
of  its  founders.  Such  a  fragment  of  antiquity  favors  the 
speculation  of  Schelling,  and  the  other  German  metaphysi- 
cians, concerning  a  bygone  age  of  culture  and  the  arts  and 
sciences. 

June  1st.  —  Hundleby  sent  me,  just  before  I  went  to  dinner, 
papers,  in  order  to  argue  at  ten  on  Monday  morning  before  the 
Lords  (the  Judges  being  summoned)  the  famous  case  of  John- 
stone and  Hubbard,  or,  in  the  Exchequer  Chamber,  Hubbard 
and  Johnstone,  in  which  the  Exchequer  Chamber  reversed  the 
decision  of  the  King's  Bench,  the  question  being  on  the  effect  of 
the  Registry  Acts  on  sales  of  ships  at  sea.  This  case  had  been 
argued  some  seven  or  eight  times  in  the  courts  below,  among 
others,  by  two  of  the  Judges  (Richardson  and  Parke),  and  had 
been  pending  fourteen  years  (the  first  action,  indeed,  against 
Hubbard  was  in  1803).    And  on  such  a  case  I  was  to  prepare 


1822.] 


APPEAL  CASE  BEFORE  THE  LORDS. 


475 


myself  in  a  few  hours,  because  Littledale,  who  had  attended  the 
Lords  three  times,  could  not  prepare  himself  for  want  of  time  ! 
No  wonder  that  I  took  books  into  bed,  and  was  in  no  very  com- 
fortable mood. 

June  Sd,  —  I  rose  before  five  and  had  the  case  on  my  mind 
till  past  nine,  when  Hundleby  called.  He  took  me  down  to 
Westminster  in  a  boat.  There  I  found  Carr  in  attendance.  A 
little  after  ten  I  was  called  on,  and  I  began  my  argument  before 
the  Chancellor,  Lord  Redesdale,  one  bishop,  and  nearly  all  the 
Judges.  I  was  nervous  at  first,  but  in  the  course  of  my  argu- 
ment I  gained  courage,  and  Manning,  who  attended  without 
telling  me  he  should  do  so  (an  act  of  such  kindness  and 
friendship  as  I  shall  not  soon  forget),  having  whispered  a  word 
of  encouragement,  I  concluded  with  tolerable  comfort  and  sat- 
isfaction. 

In  the  course  of  my  argument  I  said  one  or  two  bold  things. 
Having  referred  to  a  late  decision  of  the  King's  Bench,  which 
is,  in  effect,  a  complete  overruling  of  the  case  then  before  the 
Lords  (Richardson  v.  Campbell,  5  B.  and  A.  196),  I  said  :  "My 
learned  friend  will  say  that  the  cases  are  different.  And  they 
are  different  :  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  in  givin'g  judgment,  says 
so.  My  Lords,  since  the  short  time  that  I  have  been  in  the 
profession,  nothing  has  excited  my  admiration  so  much  as  the 
mingled  delicacy  and  astuteness  with  which  the  learned  Judges 
of  one  court  avoid  overruling  the  decisions  of  other  courts. 
(Here  Richardson,  Parke,  and  Bailey  smiled,  and  the  Chancellor 
winked.)  It  would  be  indecorous  in  me  to  insinuate,  even  if  I 
dared  to  imagine,  what  the  opinion  of  the  Judges  of  the  King's 
Bench  is ;  but  I  beg  your  Lordships  to  consider  whether  the 
reasoning  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Abbott  applies  to  that  part  of 
the  case  in  which  it  differs  from  the  case  before  the  House,  or 
to  that  in  which  the  cases  are  the  same."  I  afterwards  com- 
mented on  a  mistake  arising  from  confounding  the  words  of 
the  statute  of  W.  and  those  of  34  George  III.,  and  said  :  "  This 
mistake  ha,s  so  pervaded  the  profession,  that  the  present  re- 
porters have  put  a  false  quotation  into  the  lips  of  the  Chief 
Justice,"  I  knowing  that  the  Chief  Justice  himself  supplied  the 
report. 

After  I  had  finished,  Carr  began  his  answer.  But  in  a  few 
minutes  the  Chancellor  found  that  the  special  verdict  was  im- 
perfectly framed,  and  directed  a  venire  de  novo  (i.  e.  a  new 
trial).  Carr  and  I  are  to  consent  to  amend  it.  Carr  said  to 
me  very  kindly  ;  "  on  his  honor,  that  he  thought  I  had  argued 


476     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Cpiap.  26. 


it  better  than  any  one  on  my  side."  Manning,  too,  said  I  had 
done  it  very  well,  and  the  Chancellor,  on  my  observing  how 
unprepared  my  client  was  to  make  alterations,  said:  *'You 
have  done  so  well  at  a  short  notice,  that  I  have  no  doubt  you 
will  manage  the  rest  very  well."  As  Hundleby,  too,  was  sat- 
isfied, I  came  away  enjoying  myself  without  being  at  all  gay, 
like  a  man  escaped  from  peril.  I  was,  after  all,  by  no  means 
satisfied  with  myself,  and  ascribed  to  good-nature  the  compli- 
ments I  had  received. 

June  4th'  —  Went  for  half  the  evening  to  Drury  Lane.  The 
few  songs  in  the  piece  (the  "  Castle  of  Andalusia  ")  were  sung 
by  Braham,  viz.  "  All 's  Well,"  and  "  Victory,"  songs  sung  by 
him  on  all  occasions  and  on  no  occasion,  but  they  cannot  be 
heard  too  often. 

Ju7ie  9th.  — Went  to  the  Lambs'.  Talfourd  joined  me  there. 
I  was  struck  by  an  observation  of  Miss  Lamb's,  How  stupid 
those  old  people  are  !  "  Perhaps  my  nephew's  companions  say 
so  of  my  brother  and  me  already.  Assuredly  they  will  soon  say 
so.    Talfourd  and  I  walked  home  together  late. 

June  17th.  —  I  w^ent  to  call  on  the  Lambs  and  take  leave, 
they  setting  out  for  France  next  morning.  I  gave  Miss  Lamb 
a  letter  for  Miss  Williams,  to  whom  I  sent  a  copy  of  Mrs. 
Leicester's  School."  *  The  Lambs  have  a  Frenchman  as  their 
companion,  and  Miss  Lamb's  nurse,  in  case  she  should  be  ill. 
Lamb  was  in  high  spirits ;  his  sister  rather  nervous.  Her 
courage  in  going  is  great. 

Jitne  29th.  —  Read  to-day  in  the  Vienna  Jahrhilcher  der 
Literatur  a  very  learned  and  profound  article  on  the  history 
of  the  creation  in  Genesis.  I  was  ashamed  of  my  ignorance. 
Schlegel  defends  the  Mosaic  narrative,  but  understands  it  in  a 
higher  sense  than  is  usually  given  to  the  history.  His  ideas 
are  very  curious.  He  supposes  man  to  have  been  created  be- 
tween the  last  and  last  but  one  of  the  many  revolutions  the 
earth  has  undergone,  and  adopts  the  conjecture,  that  the 
Deluge  was  occasioned  by  a  change  in  the  position  of  the  equa- 
tion, which  turned  the  sea  over  the  dry  land,  and  caused  the 
bed  of  the  ocean  to  become  dry.  He  also  supposes  chaos  not 
to  have  been  created  by  God,  but  to  have  been  the  effect  of 
sin  in  a  former  race  of  creatures  !  Of  all  this  I  know  nothing. 
Perhaps  no  man  can  usefully  indulge  in  such  speculations,  but 
it  is  at  least  honorable  to  attempt  them. 

July  18th.  —  I  finished  "  Sir  Charles  Grandison,"  a  book  of 

*  A  set  of  Tales  by  Mary  Lamb,  with  three  contributed  by  her  brother. 


1822.] 


LONG  VACATION  TOUB. 


477 


great  excellence,  and  which  must  have  improved  the  moral 
character  of  the  age.  Saving  the  somewhat  surfeiting  com- 
pliments of  the  good  people,  it  has  not  a  serious  fault.  The 
formality  of  the  dialogue  and  style  is  soon  rendered  endurable 
by  the  substantial  worth  of  what  is  said.  In  all  the  subordi- 
nate incidents  Sir  Charles  is  certainly  a  beau  ideal  of  a  Chris- 
tian and  a  gentleman  united.  The  story  of  Clementina  is  the 
glory  of  the  work,  and  is  equal  to  anything  in  any  language. 

[Mr.  Robinson's  tour  this  3^ear  was  principally  in  the  South 
of  France.  He  kept  a  journal,  as  usual.  A  few  extracts  will 
be  given,  but  no  connected  account  of  the  journey.] 

August  10 til.  —  At  7  a.  m.  I  embarked  on  board  the  Lord 
Melville  steam-packet  off  the  Tower  Stairs,  London.  Our  de- 
parture was  probably  somewhat  retarded,  and  certainly  ren- 
dered even  festive,  by  the  expected  fete  of  the  day.  The  King- 
was  to  set  out  on  his  voyage  to  Scotland,  and  the  City  Com- 
panies' barges  had  been  suddenly  ordered  to  attend  him  at 
Gravesend.  The  river  was  therefore  thronged  with  vessels  of 
every  description,  and  the  gaudy  and  glittering  barges  of  the 
Lord  Mayor  and  some  four  or  live  of  the  Companies'  gave  a 
character  to  the  scene.  The  appearance  of  unusual  bustle 
continued  until  we  reached  Gravesend,  near  which  the  Royal 
Sovereign  yacht  was  lying  in  readiness  for  his  Majesty.  The 
day  was  fine,  which  heightened  the  effect  of  the  show.  At 
Greenwich,  the  crowds  on  land  were  immense  ;  at  Gravesend, 
the  show  was  lost.  Of  the  rest  of  the  prospect  I  cannot  say 
much.  The  Thames  is  too  wide  for  the  shore,  which  is  low 
and  uninteresting.  The  few  prominent  objects  were  not  par- 
ticularly gratifying  to  me.  The  most  remarkable  was  a  group 
of  gibbets,  with  the  fragments  of  skeletons  hanging  on  them. 
A  few  churches,  the  Reculvers,  and  the  town  of  Margate,  were 
the  great  features  of  the  picture. 

August  20th,  —  (Paris.)  Mary  Lamb  has  begged  me  to  give 
her  a  day  or  two.  She  comes  to  Paris  this  evening,  and  stays 
here  a  week.  Her  only  male  friend  is  a  Mr.  Payne,  whom  she 
praises  exceedingly  for  his  kindness  and  attentions  to  Charles. 
He  is  the  author  of  "  Brutus,"  and  has  a  good  face. 

August  21st,  —  (With  Mary  Lamb.)  When  Charles  went 
back  to  England  he  left  a  note  for  his  sister's  direction.  After 
pointing  out  a  few  pictures  in  the  Louvre,  he  proceeds  :  "  Then 
you  must  walk  all  along  the  borough  side  of  the  Seine,  facing 
the  Tuileries.  There  is  a  mile  and  a  half  of  print-shops  and 
bookstalls.    If  the  latter  were  but  English  !    Then  there  is  a 


478     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  26. 


place  where  the  Paris  people  put  all  their  dead  people,  and 
bring  them  flowers,  and  dolls,  and  gingerbread-nuts,  and  son- 
nets, and  such  trifles  ;  and  that  is  all,  I  think,  worth  seeing  as 
sights,  except  that  the  streets  and  shops  of  Paris  are  them- 
selves the  best  sight."  I  had  not  seen  this  letter  when  I  took 
Mary  Lamb  a  walk  that  corresponds  precisely  with  Lamb's 
taste,  all  of  whose  likings  I  can  always  sympathize  with,  but 
not  generally  with  his  dislikings. 

August  22(1.  —  Aders  introduced  me  to  Devon,  a  very 
Frenchman,  but  courteous  and  amiable,  lively  and  intelligent. 
He  accompanied  us  to  Marshal  Soult's  house.  But  the  Mar- 
shal was  not  at  home.  He  would  have  been  a  more  interest- 
ing object  than  the  Spanish  pictures  which  were  his  plunder 
in  the  kidnapping  war.  Though  the  paintings  by  Murillo  and 
Velasquez  were  very  interesting,  I  omit  all  mention  of  them. 
But  being  taken  to  Count  Sommariva's,  I  there  saw  what  has 
never  been  equalled  by  any  other  work  of  Canova,  though  this 
was  an  early  production,  the  Mary  Magdalene  sitting  on  a 
cross.  The  truth  and  homely  depth  of  feeling  in  the  expres- 
sion are  very  striking. 

On  the  2d  of  September  I  left  Grenoble,  and  after  a  hot  and 
fatiguing  journey  of  two  nights  and  three  days,  partly  through 
a  very  beautiful  country,  I  reached  Marseilles. 

This  journey  was  rendered  interesting  by  the  companions  I 
had  in  the  diligence.  A  religieicse  from  Grenoble,  and  two 
professors  of  theology.  One  of  them.  Professor  E,  ,  es- 
pecially an  ingratiating  man.    He  praised  the  lately  published 

Essai  sur  Tlndifference  en  Matiere  de  Eeligion,"  and  offered 
me  a  copy.    But  I  promised  to  get  it. 

Eemj^  —  This  I  did.  It  was  the  famous  work  of  De  La- 
•mennais,  of  which  only  two  volumes  were  then  published.  A 
book  of  great  eloquence,  by  a  writer  who  has  played  a  sad  part 
in  his  day.  From  being  the  ultramontanist,  and  exposing  him- 
self to  punishment  in  France  as  the  libeller  of  the  Eglise 
GalUcane,  he  became  the  assailant  of  the  Pope,  and  an  ultra- 
radical, combining  an  extreme  sentimental  French  chartism 
with  a  spiritualism  of  his  own.  He  has  of  late  years  been  the 
associate  of  George  Sand.  Her  Spiridion,"  it  is  said,  was 
written  when  travelling  with  him. 

September  Jfth.  —  It  was  during  this  night,  and  perhaps  be- 
tween two  and  three,  that  we  passed  the  town  of  Manosque, 
where  a  new  passenger  was  taken  in,  who  announced  his  office  as 

*  Written  in  1851. 


1822.] 


BON  MOT  OF  TALLEYRAND.      •  479 


Procureitr  dn  Roi  to  the  people  in  a  tone  which  made  me  fear 
we  should  meet  with  an  assuming  companion.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  contributed  to  render  the  day  very  agreeable. 

I  talked  law  with  him,  and  obtained  interesting  information 
concerning  the  proceedings  in  the  French  administration  of 
justice.  It  appears  that  within  his  district  —  there  are  about 
500  Procureurs  du  Roi  in  the  country  —  he  has  the  superin- 
tendence of  all  the  criminal  business.  When  a  robbery  or 
other  offence  is  committed,  the  parties  come  to  him.  He  re- 
ceives the  complaint,  and  sends  the  gendarmerie  in  search  of  the 
offender.  When  a  murder  or  act  of  arson  has  been  perpe- 
trated, he  repairs  to  the  spot.  In  short,  he  is  a  sort  of  coro- 
ner and  high  sheriff  as  well  as  public  prosecutor,  and  at  the 
public  expense  he  carries  on  the  suit  to  conviction  or  acquittal. 

On  inquiry  of  the  steps  he  would  take  on  information  that 
a  person  had  been  killed  in  a  duel,  he  said,  that  if  he  found  a 
man  had  killed  his  adversary  in  the  defence  of  his  person,  he 
should  consider  him  as  innocent,  and  not  put  him  on  his  trial. 
I  asked,  If  you  find  the  party  killed  in  a/a^r  duel,  what  then'? 
—  "  Take  up  my  papers  and  go  home,  and  perhaps  play  a  rub- 
ber at  night  with  the  man  who  had  killed  his  adversary."  I  am 
confident  of  these  words,  for  they  made  an  impression  on  me. 
But  I  think  the  law  is  altered  now. 

October  Jftli,  —  We  had  for  a  short  distance  in  the  diligence 
an  amusing  young  priest,  —  the  only  lively  man  of  his  cloth  I 
have  seen  in  France.  He  told  anecdotes  with  great  glee  ; 
among  others  the  following  :  — 

When  Madame  de  Stael  put  to  Talleyrand  the  troublesome 
question  what  he  would  have  done  had  he  seen  her  and  Ma- 
dame de  Recamier  in  danger  of  drowning,  instead  of  the  cer- 
tainly uncharacteristic  and  sentimental  speech  commonly  put 
into  his  lips  as  the  answer,  viz.  that  he  should  have  jumped 
into  the  water  and  saved  Madame  de  Stael,  and  then  jumped 
in  and  died  with  Madame  de  Recamier,  —  instead  of  this, 
Talleyrand's  answer  was,  Ah  !  Madame  de  Stael  sait  tant  de 
choses  que  sans  doute  elle  pent  nager  !  " 

October  13th.  —  At  home.  I  had  papers  and  letters  to  look 
at,  though  in  small  quantity.  My  nephew  came  and  break- 
fasted with  me.  He  did  not  bring  the  news,  for  Burch  of 
Canterbury  had  informed  me  of  his  marriage  with  Miss 
Hutchison.  I  afterwards  saw  Manning ;  also  Talfourd,  who 
was  married  to  Miss  Rachel  Rutt  during  the  long  vacation. 
,    October  l^-tK  —  I  rode  to  Norwich  on  the  *^  Day  coach," 


480     REMINiSCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  26. 


and  was  nearly  all  the  time  occupied  in  reading  the  Abbe  De 
Lamennais'  Essai  sur  I'lndifference,"  an  eloquent  and  very 
able  work  against  religious  indifference,  in  which,  however,  he 
advocates  the  cause  of  Popery,  without  in  the  slightest  degree 
accommodating  himself  to  the  spirit  of  the  age.  He  treats 
alike  Lutherans,  Socinians,  Deists,  and  Atheists.  I  have  not 
yet  read  far  enough  to  be  aware  of  his  proofs  in  favor  of  his 
own  infallible  Church,  and  probably  that  is  assumed,  not 
proved ;  but  his  skill  is  very  great  and  masterly  in  exposing 
infidelity,  and  especially  the  inconsistencies  of  Eousseau. 

December  9th,  —  Heard  to-day  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Aikin,  — 
a  thing  not  to  be  lamented.  He  had  for  years  sunk  into  imbe- 
cility, after  a  youth  and  middle  age  of  extensive  activity.  He 
was  in  his  better  days  a  man  of  talents,  and  of  the  highest 
personal  worth,  —  one  of  the  salt  of  the  earth. 

December  21st.  —  The  afternoon  I  spent  at  Aders's.  A  large 
party,  —  a  splendid  dinner,  prepared  by  a  French  cook,  and 
music  in  the  evening.  Coleridge  was  the  star  of  the  evening. 
He  talked  in  his  usual  way,  though  with  more  liberality  than 
when  I  saw  him  last  some  years  ago.  But  he  was  somewhat 
less  animated  and  brilliant  and  paradoxical.  The  music  was 
enjoyed  by  Coleridge,  but  I  could  have  dispensed  with  it  for 
the  sake  of  his  conversation. 

"  For  eloquence  the  soul,  song  charms  the  sense." 

December  31st.  —  The  New  Year's  eve  I  spent,  as  I  have 
done  frequently,  at  Flaxman's.  And  so  I  concluded  a  year, 
like  so  many  preceding,  of  uninterrupted  pleasure  and  health, 
with  an  increase  of  fortune  and  no  loss  of  reputation.  Though, 
as  has  always  been  the  case,  I  am  not  by  any  means  satisfied 
with  my  conduct,  yet  I  have  no  matter  of  self-reproach  as  far 
as  the  world  is  concerned.    My  fees  amounted  to  629  guineas. 


1823.] 


SOUTHEY  ON  HIS  HISTORY. 


481 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
1823. 

JANUARY  8t1i,  —  Went  in  the  evening  to  Lamb.  I  have  sel- 
dom spent  a  more  agreeable  few  hours  with  him.  He  was 
serious  and  kind,  —  his  wit  was  subordinate  to  his  judgment,  as 
is  usual  in  tete-ci-tete  parties.  Speaking  of  Coleridge,  he  said  : 
He  ought  not  to  have  a  wife  or  children  ;  he  should  have  a 
sort  of  diocesan  care  of  the  world,  —  no  parish  duty."  Lamb 
reprobated  the  prosecution  of  Byron's  "  Vision  of  Judgment." 
Southey's  poem  of  the  same  name  is  more  worthy  of  punish- 
ment, for  his  has  an  arrogance  beyond  endurance.  Lord  By- 
ron's satire  is  one  of  the  most  good-natured  description,  —  no 
malevolence. 

February  26th.  —  A  letter  from  Southey.  I  was  glad  to  find 
he  had  taken  in  good  part  a  letter  I  had  written  to  him  on 
some  points  of  general  politics,  &c.,  the  propriety  of  writing 
which  I  had  myself  doubted. 

Southey  to  H.  C.  R 

Keswick,  22d  February,  1823. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  I  beg  your  pardon  for  not  having  returned 
the  MSS.  which  you  left  here  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  when  I 
was  unlucky  enough  to  miss  seeing  you.  I  thought  to  have 
taken  them  myself  to  London  long  ere  this,  and  put  off  ac- 
knowledging them  till  a  more  convenient  season  from  time  to 
time.  But  good  intentions  are  no  excuse  for  sins  of  omission. 
I  heartily  beg  your  pardon,  —  and  will  return  them  to  you  in 
person  in  the  ensuing  spring. 

I  shall  be  at  Norwich  in  the  course  of  my  travels,  —  and  of 
course  see  William  Taylor.  As  for  vulgar  imputations,  you 
need  not  be  told  how  little  I  regard  them.  My  way  of  life  has 
been  straightforward,  and  —  as  the  inscription  upon  Akbar's 
seal  says —  I  never  saw  any  one  lost  upon  a  straight  road." 
To  those  who  know  me,  my  life  is  my  justification  ;  to  those 
who  do  not,  my  writings  would  be,  in  their  whole  tenor,  if  they 
were  just  enough  to  ascertain  what  my  opinions  are  before 
they  malign  me  for  advancing  them. 

VOL.  I.  21  EE 


482     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 

What  the  plausible  objection  to  my  history  *  which  you  have 
repeated  means,  I  cannot  comprehend,  —  ^'  That  I  have  wil- 
fully disregarded  those  changes  in  the  Spanish  character  which 
might  have  been  advantageously  drawn  from  the  spirit  of  the 
age  in  the  more  enlightened  parts  of  Europe."  I  cannot  guess 
at  what  is  meant. 

Of  the  old  governments  in  the  Peninsula,  my  opinion  is  ex- 
pressed in  terms  of  strong  condemnation,  —  not  in  this  work 
only,  but  in  the  "  History  of  Brazil,"  wherever  there  was  occa- 
sion to  touch  upon  the  subject.  They  are  only  not  so  bad  as 
a  Jacobinical  tyranny,  which,  whi^e  it  continues,  destroys  the 
only  good  that  these  governments  left  (that  is,  order),  and  ter- 
minates at  last  in  a  stronger  despotism  than  that  which  it  has 
overthrown.  I  distrust  the  French,  because,  whether  under  a 
Bourbon  or  a  Buonaparte,  they  are  French  still ;  but  if  their 
government  were  upright,  and  their  people  honorable,  in  that 
case  I  should  say  that  their  interference  with  Spain  was  a 
question  of  expediency ;  and  that  justice  and  humanity,  as 
well  as  policy,  would  require  them  to  put  an  end  to  the  com- 
motions in  that  wretched  country,  and  restore  order  there,  if 
this  could  be  effected.  But  I  do  not  see  how  they  can  effect 
it.  And  when  such  men  as  Mina  and  EroUes  are  opposed  to 
each  other,  I  cannot  but  feel  how  desperately  bad  the  system 
must  be  which  each  is  endeavoring  to  suppress ;  and  were  it 
in  my  power,  by  a  wish,  to  decide  the  struggle  on  one  side  or 
the  other,  so  strongly  do  I  perceive  the  evils  on  either  side, 
that  I  confess  I  should  want  resolution  and  determination. 

You  express  a  wish  that  my  judgment  were  left  unshackled 
to  its  own  free  operation.  In  God's  name,  what  is  there  to 
shackle  it  ]  I  neither  court  preferment  nor  popularity  ;  and 
care  as  little  for  the  favor  of  the  great  as  for  the  obloquy  of 
the  vulgar.  Concerning  Venice,  —  I  have  spoken  as  strongly 
as  you  could  desire.  Concerning  Genoa,  —  instead  of  giving 
it  to  Sardinia,  I  wish  it  could  have  been  sold  to  Corsica.  The 
Germans  were  originally  invited  to  govern  Italy,  because  the 
Italians  were  too  depraved  and  too  divided  to  govern  them- 
selves. You  cannot  wish  more  sincerely  than  I  do  that  the 
same  cause  did  not  exist  to  render  the  continuance  of  their 
dominion,  —  not  indeed  a  good,  but  certainly,  under  present 
circumstances,  the  least  of  two  evils.  It  is  a  bad  government, 
and  a  clumsy  one  ;  and,  indeed,  the  best  foreign  dominion  can 
never  be  better  than  a  necessary  evil. 

*  The  first  volume  of  Sontbey's  "  History  of  the  Peninsular  AVar."  The 
second  volume  was  published  iii*1827,  and  the  third  in  1833. 


1823.] 


ORDER  PREFERRED  TO  FREEDOM. 


483 


Your  last  question  is,  what  I  think  of  the  King  of  Prussia's 
utter  disregard  of  his  promises  ?  You  are  far  better  qualified  to 
judge  of  the  state  of  his  dominions  than  I  can  be.  But  I  would 
ask  you  whether  the  recent  experiments  which  have  been  made 
of  establishing  representative  governments  are  likely  to  encour- 
age or  deter  those  princes  who  may  formerly  have  wished  to 
introduce  them  in  their  states  1  And  whether  the  state  of 
England,  since  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  has  been  such  as 
would  recommend  or  disparage  the  English  constitution,  to 
those  who  may  once  have  considered  it  as  the  fair  ideal  of  a 
well-balanced  government  ?  The  English  Liberals  and  the 
English  press  are  the  worst  enemies  of  liberty. 

It  will  not  be  very  long  before  my  speculations  upon  the 
prospects  of  society  will  be  before  the  world.  You  will  then 
see  that  my  best  endeavors  for  the  real  interests  of  humanity 
have  not  been  wanting.  Those  interests  are  best  consulted 
now  by  the  maintenance  of  order.  Maintain  order,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  age  will  act  surely  and  safely  upon  the  govern- 
ments of  Europe.  But  if  the  Anarchists  prevail,  there  is  an 
end  of  all  freedom  ;  a  generation  like  that  of  Sylla,  or  Robes- 
pierre, will  be  succeeded  by  a  despotism,  appearing  like  a 
golden  age  at  first,  but  leading,  like  the  Augustan  age,  to  the 
thorough  degradation  of  everything. 

I  have  answered  you,  though  hastily,  as  fully  as  the  limits 
of  a  letter  will  admit, — fairly,  freely,  and  willingly.  My 
views  are  clear  and  consistent,  and,  could  they  be  inscribed  on 
my  gravestone,  I  should  desire  no  better  epitaph. 

Wordsworth  is  at  Coleorton,  and  will  be  in  London  long  be- 
fore me.  He  is  not  satisfied  with  my  account  of  the  conven- 
tion of  Cintra  ;  the  rest  of  the  book  he  likes  well.  Our 
difference  here  is,  that  he  looks  at  the  principle,  abstractedly, 
and  I  take  into  view  the  circumstances. 

When  you  come  into  this  country  again,  give  me  a  few  days. 
I  have  a  great  deal  both  within  doors  and  without  which  I 
should  have  great  pleasure  in  showing  you.  Farewell !  and 
believe  me 

Yours  sincerely, 

Robert  Southey. 

March  1st  —  (On  circuit.)  We  dined  with  Garrow.  He 
was  very  chatty.  He  talked  about  his  being  retained  for  Fox, 
on  the  celebrated  scrutiny  in  1784  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, "  To  which,"  he  said,  "  I  owe  the  rank  I  have  the  honor 


484     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  271 


to  fill."  He  mentioned  the  circumstances  under  which  he  went 
first  to  the  bar  of  the  Commons.  He  w^as  sent  for  on  a  sud- 
den, without  preparation,  almost  without  reading  his  brief  He 
spoke  for  two  hours ;  "  And  it  was,"  he  said,  "  the  best  speech 
I  ever  made.  Kenyon  was  Master  of  the  Rolls,  hating  all  I 
said,  but  he  came  down  to  the  bar  and  said,  good-naturedly, 
*  Your  business  is  done  ;  now  you  '11  get  on.*  "  Garrow  talked 
of  himself  with  pleasure,  but  without  expressing  any  extrava- 
gant opinions  about  himself 

April  2d.  —  An  interesting  day.  After  breakfasting  at  Monk- 
house's,  I  walked  out  with  Wordsworth,  his  son  John,  and  Monk- 
house.  We  first  called  at  Sir  George  Beaumont's  to  see  his  frag- 
ment of  Michael  Angelo,  —  a  piece  of  sculpture  in  bas  and  haut 
relief,  —  a  holy  family.  The  Virgin  has  the  child  in  her  lap  ; 
he  clings  to  her,  alarmed  by  something  St.  John  holds  towards 
him,  probably  intended  for  a  bird.  The  expression  of  the  in- 
fant's face  and  the  beauty  of  his  limbs  cannot  well  be  surpassed. 
Sir  George  supposes  that  Michael  Angelo  was  so  persuaded  he 
could  not  heighten  the  effect  by  completing  it,  that  he  never 
finished  it.  There  is  also  a  very  fine  landscape  by  Rubens,  full 
of  power  and  striking  effect.  It  is  highly  praised  by  Sir  George 
for  its  execution,  the  management  of  its  lights,  its  gradation, 
&c. 

Sir  George  is  a  very  elegant  man,  and  talks  well  on  matters 
of  art.  Lady  Beaumont  is  a  gentlewoman  of  great  sweetness 
and  dignity.  I  should  think  among  the  most  interesting  by  far 
of  persons  of  quality  in  the  country.  I  should  have  thought 
this,  even  had  I  not  known  of  their  great  attachment  to  Words- 
worth. 

We  then  called  on  Moore,  and  had  a  very  pleasant  hour's  chat 
with  him.  Politics  were  a  safer  topic  than  poetry,  though  on 
this  the  opinions  of  Wordsworth  and  Moore  are  nearly  as  ad- 
verse as  their  poetic  character.  Moore  spoke  freely  and  in  a 
tone  I  cordially  sympathized  with  about  France  and  the  Bour- 
bons. He  considers  it  quite  uncertain  how  the  French  will  feel 
at  any  time  on  any  occasion,  so  volatile  and  vehement  are  they 
at  the  same  time.  Yet  he  thinks  that,  as  far  as  they  have  any 
thought  on  the  matter,  it  is  in  favor  of  the  Spaniards  and  liberal 
opinions.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  says  he  is  disposed  to  assent 
to  the  notion,  that  of  all  the  people  in  Europe,  the  French  alone 
are  unfit  for  liberty.  Wordsworth  freely  contradicted  some  of 
Moore's  assertions,  but  assented  to  the  last. 

Of  French  'poetry  Moore  did  not  speak  highly,  and  he  thinks 


1823.] 


A  QUINTET  OF  POETS. 


485 


that  Chenevix  has  overrated  the  living  poets  in  his  late  articles 
in  the  Edinburgh  Review.  Moore's  person  is  very  small,  his 
countenance  lively  rather  than  intellectual.  I  should  judge  him 
to  be  kind-hearted  and  friendly. 

Wordsworth  and  I  went  afterwards  to  the  Society  of  Arts, 
and  took  shelter  during  a  heavy  rain  in  the  great  room. 
Wordsworth's  curiosity  was  raised  and  soon  satisfied  by  Barry's 
pictures. 

Concluded  my  day  at  Monkhouse's.  The  Lambs  were 
th'ere. 

April  Jfth.  —  Dined  at  Monkhouse's.  Our  party  consisted  of 
Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  Lamb,  Moore,  and  Rogers.  Five  poets 
of  very  unequal  worth  and  most  disproportionate  popularity, 
whom  the  public  probably  w^ould  arrange  in  a  different  order. 
During  this  afternoon,  Coleridge  alone  displayed  any  of  his 
peculiar  talent.  I  have  not  for  years  seen  him  in  such  excel- 
lent health  and  with  so  fine  a  flow  of  spirits.  His  discourse 
was  addressed  chiefly  to  Wordsworth,  on  points  of  metaphysi- 
cal criticism,  —  Rogers  occasionally  interposing  a  remark.  The 
only  one  of  the  poets  who  seemed  not  to  enjoy  himself  was 
Moore.  He  was  very  attentive  to  Coleridge,  but  seemed  to 
relish  Lamb,  next  to  whom  he  was  placed. 

Rem.*  —  Of  this  dinner  an  account  is  given  in  Moore's  Life, 
which  account  is  quoted  in  the  Athenaeum  of  April  23,  1853. 
Moore  writes:  "  April  4,  1823.  Dined  at  Mr.  Monkhouse's 
(a  gentleman  I  had  never  seen  before)  on  Wordsworth's  invita- 
tion, who  lives  there  whenever  he  comes  to  town.  A  singular 
party.  Coleridge,  Rogers,  Wordsworth  and  wife,  Charles  Lamb 
(the  hero  at  present  of  the  London  Magazine)  and  his  sister  (the 
poor  woman  who  went  mad  in  a  diligence  on  the  way  to  Paris), 
and  a  Mr.  Robinson,  one  of  the  minora  sidera  of  this  constella- 
tion of  the  Lakes  ;  the  host  himself,  a  Maecenas  of  the  school, 
contributing  nothing  but  good  dinners  and  silence.  Charles 
Lamb,  a  clever  fellow,  certainly,  but  full  of  villanous  and 
abortive  puns,  which  he  miscarries  of  every  minute.  Some  ex- 
cellent things,  however,  have  come  from  him."  Charles  Lamb 
is  indeed  praised  by  a  word  the  most  unsuitable  imaginable,  for 
he  was  by  no  means  a  clever  man  ;  and  dear  Mary  Lamb,  a  wo- 
man of  singular  good  sense,  who,  when  really  herself,  and  free 
from  the  malady  that  periodically  assailed  her,  was  quiet  and 
judicious  in  an  eminent  degree,  —  this  admirable  person  is 
dryly  noticed  as    the  poor  w^oman  who  went  mad  in  a  dili- 

*  Written  in  1853. 


486     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 


gence,"  &c.  Moore  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  this,  —  they  were 
strangers  to  him.  The  Athenoeum  Keviewer,  who  quotes  this 
passage  from  Moore,  remarks  :  "  The  tone  is  not  to  our  hking," 
and  it  is  added,  "  We  should  like  to  see  Lamb's  account."  This 
occasioned  my  sending  to  the  Athenceum  (June  25,  1853)  a 
letter  by  Lamb  to  Bernard  Barton.*  "  Dear  Sir,  —  I  wished 
for  you  yesterday.  I ,  dined  in  Parnassus  with  Wordsworth, 
Coleridge,  Rogers,  and  Tom  Moore  :  half  the  poetry  of  Eng- 
land constellated  in  Gloucester  Place  !  It  was  a  delightful 
evening  !  Coleridge  was  in  his  finest  vein  of  talk,  —  had  all 
the  talk  ;  and  let  'em  talk  as  evilly  as  they  do  of  the  envy  of 
poets,  I  am  sure  not  one  there  but  was  content  to  be  nothing 
but  a  listener.  The  Muses  were  dumb  while  Apollo  lectured 
on  his  and  their  fine  art.  It  is  a  lie  that  poets  are  envious  :  I 
have  known  the  best  of  them,  and  can  speak  to  it,  that  they 
give  each  other  their  merits,  and  are  the  kindest  critics  as  well 
as  best  authors.  I  am  scribbling  a  muddy  epistle  with  an  ach- 
ing head,  for  we  did  not  quaff  Hippocrene  last  night,  marry  ! 
It  was  hippocrass  rather." 

Lamb  was  in  a  happy  frame;  and  I  can  still  recall  to  my 
mind  the  look  and  tone  with  which  he  addressed  Moore,  when 
he  could  not  articulate  very  distinctly  :  Mister  Moore,  will 
you  drink  a  glass  of  wine  with  me  ] "  —  suiting  the  action  to 
the  word,  and  hobnobbing.  Then  he  went  on  :  Mister  Moore, 
till  now  I  have  always  felt  an  antipathy  to  you,  but  now  that 
I  have  seen  you  I  shall  like  you  ever  after."  Some  years  after 
I  mentioned  this  to  Moore.  He  recollected  the  fact,  but  not 
Lamb's  amusing  manner.  Moore's  talent  was  of  another  sort ; 
for  many  years  he  had  been  the  most  brilliant  man  of  his  com- 
pany. In  anecdote,  small-talk,  and  especially  in  singing,  he  was 
supreme  ;  but  he  was  no  match  for  Coleridge  in  his  vein.  As 
little  could  he  feel  Lamb's  humor. 

Besides  these  five  bards  were  no  one  but  Mrs.  Wordsworth, 
Miss  Hutchison,  Mary  Lamb,  and  Mrs.  Oilman.  I  was  at  the 
bottom  of  the  table,  where  I  very  ill  performed  my  part. 

April  5th.  —  Went  to  a  large  musical  party  at  Aders's,  in 
Euston  Square.  This  party  I  had  made  for  them.  Words- 
worth, Monkhouse,  and  the  ladies,  the  Flaxmans,  Coleridge, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Oilman,  and  Rogers,  were  my  friends.  I  noticed 
a  great  diversity  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  music,  which  was 
first-rate.  Wordsworth  declared  himself  perfectly  delighted 
and  satisfied,  but  he  sat  alone,  silent,  and  with  his  face  covered, 

*  Lamb's  Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  204. 


1823.] 


LORD  THURLOW'S  CHURCHISM. 


487 


and  was  generally  supposed  to  be  asleep.  Flaxman,  too,  con- 
fessed that  he  could  not  endure  fine  music  for  long.  But  Cole- 
ridge's enjoyment  was  very  lively  and  openly  expressed. 

April  loth,  —  Dover  lately  lent  me  a  very  curious  letter, 
written  in  1757  by  Thurlow  to  a  Mr.  Caldwell,  who  appears 
to  have  wanted  his  general  advice  how  to  annoy  the  parson  of 
his  parish.  The  letter  fills  several  sheets,  and  is  a  laborious 
enumeration  of  statutes  and  canons,  imposing  an  infinite  va- 
riety of  vexatious  and  burdensome  duties  on  clergymen.  Thur- 
low begins  by  saying :  ^'  I  have  confined  myself  to  consider 
how  a  parson  lies  obnoxious  to  the  criminal  laws  of  the  land, 
both  ecclesiastical  and  secular,  upon  account  of  his  character 
and  office,  omitting  those  instances  in  which  all  men  are  equal- 
ly liable."  And  he  terminates  his  review  by  a  triumphant 
declaration  :  ^'  I  hope  my  Lord  Leicester  will  think,  even  by 
this  short  sketch,  that  I  did  not  talk  idly  to  him,  when  I  said 
that  parsons  were  so  hemmed  in  by  canons  and  statutes,  that 
they  can  hardly  breathe,  according  to  law,  if  they  are  strictly 
watched." 

Scarcely  any  of  the  topics  treated  of  have  any  interest, 
being  for  the  most  part  technical ;  but  after  writing  of  the 
Statutes  of  Uniformity,  especially  13th  and  14th  Ch.  II.  c.  64, 
he  has  this  passage  :  *^  I  have  mentioned  these  severe  statutes 
and  canons,  because  I  have  known  many  clergymen,  and  those 
of  the  best  character,  followers  of  Eusebius,  who  have,  in  the 
very  face  of  all  these  laws,  refused  to  read  the  Athanasian 
Creed.  Considering  the  shocking  absurdity  of  this  creed,  I 
should  think  it  a  cruel  thing  to  punish  anybody  for  not  read- 
ing it  but  those  who  have  sworn  to  read  it,  and  who  have  great 
incomes  for  upholding  that  persuasion." 

....  Neque  enim  lex  est  sequior  uUa 
Quam  necis  artifices  arte  perire  sua. 

May  2d.  —  Having  discharged  some  visits,  I  had  barely 
time  to  return  to  dress  for  a  party  at  Mr.  Green's,  Lincoln's 
Inn  Fields.  An  agreeable  party.  Coleridge  was  the  only 
talker,  and  he  did  not  talk  his  best ;  he  repeated  one  of  his 
own  jokes,  by  which  he  offended  a  Methodist  at  the  whist- 
table  ;  calling  for  her  last  trump,  and  confessing  that,  though 
he  always  thought  her  an  angel,  he  had  not  before  known  her 
to  be  an  archangel. 

Rem.^  —  Early  in  May  my  sister  came  to  London  to  obtain 
surgical  advice.    She  consulted  Sir  Astley  Cooper,  Cline,  and 

*  Written  in  1851. 


488     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 

Abernethj.  Abernethy  she  declared  to  be  the  most  feeling 
and  tender  surgeon  she  had  ever  consulted.  His  behavior 
was  characteristic,  and  would  have  been  amusing,  if  the 
gravity  of  the  occasion  allowed  of  its  being  seen  from  a 
comic  point  of  view.  My  sister  calling  on  him  as  he  was  go- 
ing out,  said,  by  way  of  apology,  she  would  not  detain  him 
two  minutes.  "  What !  you  expect  me  to  give  you  my  advice 
in  two  minutes  1  I  will  do  no  such  thing.  I  know  nothing 
about  you,  or  your  mode  of  living.  I  can  be  of  no  use.  Well, 
I  am  not  the  first  you  have  spoken  to ;  whom  have  you  seen  1 
—  Cooper  1  —  Ah  !  very  clever  with  his  fingers  ;  and  whom 
besides  1  —  Cline  1  —  tvhi/  come  to  me  then  1  you  need  not  go 
to  any  one  after  him.    He  is  a  sound  man." 

Mai/  21st  —  Luckily  for  me,  for  I  was  quite  unprepared,  a 
tithe  case  in  which  I  was  engaged  was  put  off*  till  the  full 
term.  Being  thus  unexpectedly  relieved,  I  devoted  great  part 
of  the  forenoon  to  a  delightfid  stroll.  I  walked  through  the 
Green  Park  towards  Brompton ;  and  knowing  that  with  the 
great  Bath  road  on  my  right,  and  the  Thames  on  my  left,  I 
could  not  greatly  err,  I  went  on  without  inquiry.  I  found  my- 
self at  Chelsea.  Saw  the  new  Gothic  church,  and  was  pleased 
with  the  spire,  though  the  barn-like  nave,  and  the  slender  and 
feeble  flying  buttresses,  confirmed  the  expectation  that  modern 
Gothic  would  be  a  failure.  Poverty  or  economy  is  fatal  in  its 
effects  on  a  style  of  architecture  which  is  nothing  if  it  be  not 
rich.  I  turned  afterwards  to  the  right,  through  Walham 
Common,  and  arrived  at  Naylor's  at  three.  The  great  man 
whom  we  were  met  to  admire  came  soon  after.  It  was  the 
famovis  Scotch  preacher,  the  associate  of  Dr.  Chalmers  at 
Glasgow,  Mr.  Irving.  He  was  brought  by  his  admirer,  an  ac- 
quaintance of  Naylor's,  a  Mr.  Laurie,*  a  worthy  Scotchman, 
who  to-day  was  in  the  background,  but  speaks  at  religious 
meetings,  Naylor  says.  There  was  also  Tho.  Clarkson,  not  in 
his  place  to-day.  Irving  on  the  whole  pleased  me.  Little  or  no 
assumption,  easy  and  seemingly  kind-hearted,  talking  not  more 
of  his  labors  in  attending  public  meetings  (he  was  come  from 
one)  than  might  be  excused ;  he  did  not  obtrude  any  religious 
talk,  and  was  not  dogmatical. 

JRem.f  —  Irving  had  a  remarkably  fine  figure  and  face,  and 
Mrs.  Basil  Montagu  said  it  was  a  question  with  the  ladies 
whether  his  squint  was  a  grace  or  a  deformity.  My  answer 
would  have  been.  It  enhances  the  effect  either  way.    A  better 


*  Afterwards  Sir  Peter.  —  Rem.  1851. 


t  Written  in  1861. 


1823.] 


IRVING.  —  HIS  PREACHING. 


489 


saying  of  Mrs.  Montagu's  was,  that  he  might  stand  as  a  model 
for  St.  John  the  Baptist,  —  indeed  for  any  Saint  dwelling  in 
the  wilderness  and  feeding  on  locusts  and  wild  honey.  Those 
who  took  an  impression  unpropitious  to  him  might  liken  him 
to  an  Italian  bandit.  He  has  a  powerful  voice,  feels  always 
warmly,  is  prompt  in  his  expression,  and  not  very  careful  of 
his  words.  His  opinions  I  liked.  At  the  meeting  he  had  at- 
tended in  the  morning  (it  was  of  a  Continental  Bible  Society), 
he  attacked  the  English  Church  as  a  persecuting  Church,  and 
opposed  Wilberforce,  who  had  urged  prudent  and  unoffending 
proceedings.  I  told  Irving  of  my  Scotch  journey.  He  in- 
formed me  that  the  sermon  I  heard  Dr.  Chalmers  preach 
against  the  Judaical  spending  of  the  Sabbath  had  given  of- 
fence to  the  elders,  who  remonstrated  with  him  about  it.*  He 
only  replied  that  he  was  glad  his  sermon  had  excited  so  much 
attention.  On  my  expressing  my  surprise  that  Dr.  Chalmers 
should  leave  Glasgow  for  St.  Andrew's,  Irving  said  it  was  the 
best  thing  he  could  do.  He  had,  by  excess  of  labor,  worn  out 
both  his  mind  and  body.  He  ought  for  three  or  four  years  to 
do  nothing  at  all,  but  recruit  his  health.  We  talked  a  little 
about  literature.  Irving  spoke  highly  of  Wordsworth  as  a 
poet,  and  praised  his  natiu*al  piety. 

May  25th. — After  reading  a  short  time,  I  went  to  the  Cale- 
donian Chapel,  to  hear  Mr.  Irving.  Very  mixed  impressions. 
I  do  not  wonder  that  his  preaching  should  be  thought  to  be 
acting,  or  at  least  as  indicative  of  vanity  as  of  devotion.  I 
overheard  some  old  ladies  in  Hatton  Garden  declaring  that  it 
was  not  pure  gospel ;  they  did  not  wish  to  hear  any  more,  &c. 
The  most  unfavorable  circumstance,  as  tending  to  confirm  this 
suspicion,  is  a  want  of  keeping  in  his  discourse.  Abrupt 
changes  of  style,  as  if  written  (and  it  was  written)  at  a  dozen 
different  sittings.  His  tone  equally  variable.  No  master-feel- 
ing running  through  the  whole,  like  the  red  string  through  the 
Royal  Marine  ropes,  to  borrow  an  image  from  Goethe.  Yet 
his  sermon  was  very  impressive.  I  caught  myself  wandering 
but  once.  It  began  with  a  very  promising  division  of  his  sub- 
ject. His  problem  to  show  how  the  spiritual  man  is  equally 
opposed  to  the  sensual,  the  intellectual,  and  the  moral  man,  but 
he  expatiated  chiefly  on  the  sensual  character.  He  drew  some 
striking  pictures.  He  was  very  vehement,  both  in  gesticulation 
and  declamation.  To  me  there  was  much  novelty,  perhaps 
because  I  am  less  familiar  with  Scotch  than  English  preaching. 
*  See  ante^  p.  462. 

21* 


490     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 


Basil  Montagii  and  several  young  barristers  were  there.  The 
aisles  were  crowded  by  the  profane,  at  least  by  persons  drawn 
by  curiosity. 

Rem*  —  One  unquestionable  merit  he  had,  —  he  read  the 
Scriptures  most  beautifully ;  he  gave  a  new  sense  to  them. 
Even  the  Scotch  hymns,  when  he  recited  them,  were  rendered 
endurable.  Of  my  own  acquaintance  with  him  I  shall  speak 
hereafter. 

June  8th.  —  I  attended  Mrs.  J.  Fordham  to  hear  Mr.  Irving, 
and  was  better  pleased  with  him  than  before.  There  was  an 
air  of  greater  sincerity  in  him,  and  his  peculiarities  were  less 
offensive.  His  discourse  was  a  continuation  of  last  week's,  — 
on  the  intellectual  man  as  opposed  to  the  spiritual  man.  He 
showed  the  peculiar  perils  to  which  intellectual  pursuits  expose 
a  man.  The  physician  becomes  a  materialist,  —  the  lawyer  an 
atheist,  —  because  each  confines  his  inquiries,  the  one  to  the 
secondary  laws  of  nature,  the  other  to  the  outward  relations 
and  qualities  of  actions.  The  poet,  on  the  contrary,  creates 
gods  for  himself  He  worships  the  creations  of  his  own  fancy. 
Irving  abused  in  a  commonplace  way  the  sensual  poets,  and 
made  insinuations  against  the  more  intellectual,  which  might 
be  applied  to  Wordsworth  and  Coleridge.  He  observed  on  the 
greater  danger  arising  to  intellectual  persons  from  their  being 
less  exposed  to  adversity ;  their  enjoyments  of  intellect  being 
more  independent  of  fortune.  The  best  part  of  his  discourse 
was  a  discrimination  between  the  three  fatal  errors  of,  1st, 
conceiving  that  our  actions  are  bound  by  the  laws  of  necessity  ; 
2d,  that  we  can  reform  when  we  please ;  and  3d,  that  circum- 
stances determine  our  conduct.  There  was  a  great  crowd  to- 
day, and  the  audience  seemed  gratified. 

June  17th.  —  I  had  an  opportunity  of  being  useful  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wordsworth,  who  arrived  to-day  from  Holland.  They 
relied  on  Lamb's  procuring  them  a  bed,  bat  he  was  out.  I  rec- 
ommended them  to  Mrs.  ,  but  they  could  not  get  in  there. 

In  the  mean  while  I  had  mentioned  their  arrival  to  Talfourd, 
who  could  accommodate  them.  I  made  tea  for  them,  and  af- 
terwards accompanied  them  to  Talfourd's.  I  was  before  engaged 
to  Miss  Sharpe,  where  we  supped.  The  Flaxmans  were  there, 
Samuel  Rogers,  and  his  elder  brother,  who  has  the  appearance 
of  being  a  superior  man,  which  S.  Sharpe  reports  him  to  be. 
An  agreeable  evening.  Rogers,  who  knows  all  the  gossip  of 
literature,  says  that  on  the  best  authority  he  can  affirm  that 

»  Written  in  1S51. 


1823.] 


A  SERMON  OF  IRVING'S. 


491 


Walter  Scott  has  received  £  100,000  honorarium  for  his  poems 
and  other  works,  including  the  Scotch  novels !  Walter  Scott 
is  Rogers's  friend,  but  Rogers  did  not  oppose  Flaxman's  remark, 
that  his  works  have  in  no  respect  tended  to  improve  the 
moral  condition  of  mankind.  Wordsworth  came  back  well 
pleased  with  his  tour  in  Holland.  He  has  not,  I  believe,  laid 
in  many  poetical  stores. 

June  22d,  —  An  unsettled  morning.  An  attempt  to  hear 
Irving ;  the  doors  crowded.  I  read  at  home  till  his  service 
was  over,  when  by  appointment  I  met  Talfourd,  with  whom  I 
walked  to  Clapton.  Talfourd  was  predetermined  to  be  con- 
temptuous and  scornful  towards  Irving,  whom  he  heard  in  part, 
and  no  wonder  that  he  thought  him  a  poor  reasoner,  a  com- 
monplace declaimer,  full  of  bad  imagery.  Pollock,  with  more 
candor,  declares  him  to  be  an  extraordinary  man,  but  ascribes 
much  of  the  effect  he  produces  to  his  sonorous  voice  and  im- 
pressive manner. 

June  29th,  —  Thomas  Nash,  of  Whittlesford,  calling,  induced 
me  to  go  again  to  hear  Mr.  Irving.  A  crowd.  A  rush  into 
the  meeting.  I  was  obliged  to  stand  all  the  sermon.  A  very 
striking  discourse  ;  an  exposition  of  the  superiority  of  Chris- 
tianity over  Paganism.  It  was  well  done.  His  picture  of 
Stoicism  was  admirably  conceived.  He  represented  it  at  the 
best  as  but  the  manhood,  not  the  womanhood,  of  virtue.  The 
Stoic  armed  himself  against  the  evils  of  life.  His  system, 
after  all,  was  but  refined  selfishness,  and  while  he  protected 
himself,  he  did  not  devote  himself  to  others ;  no  kindness,  no 
self-off'ering,  &c.  Speaking  of  the  common  practice  of  infidels 
to  hold  up  Socrates  and  Cato  as  specimens  of  Pagan  virtue,  he 
remarked  that  this  was  as  uncandid  as  it  would  be  to  repre- 
sent the  Royalists  of  the  seventeenth  century  by  Lord  Falkland, 
or  the  Republicans  by  Milton,  or  the  courtiers  of  Louis  XIY. 
by  Fenelon,  the  French  philosophers  before  the  Revolution  by 
D'Alembert,  or  the  French  Republicans  after  by  Carnot !  But 
neither  in  this  nor  in  any  other  of  his  sermons  did  he  manifest 
great  powers  of  thought. 

This  week  has  brought  us  the  certain  news  of  the  coun- 
ter revolution  in  Portugal.  But  men  still  will  not  be  con- 
vinced that  the  counter-revolution  in  Spain  must  inevitably 
follow. 

June  SOih,  —  I  finished  Goethe's  fifth  volume.  Some  of  the 
details  of  the  retreat  from  Champagne,  and  still  more  those  of 
the  siege  of  Mayence,  are  tedious,  but  it  is  a  delightful  volume 


492     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 


notwithstanding.  It  will  be  looked  back  upon  by  a  remote 
posterity  as  a  most  interesting  picture  from  the  hand  of  a 
master  of  the  state  of  the  public  mind  and  feeling  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution.  The  literary  and  psychological 
parts  of  the  book  are  invaluable.  The  tale  of  the  melancholy 
youth  who  sought  Goethe's  advice,  which,  after  a  visit  in  dis- 
guise to  the  Harz,  he  refused  to  give,  because  he  was  assured 
he  could  be  of  no  use,  is  fraught  with  interest.  It  was  •  at 
that  time  Goethe  wrote  the  fine  ode,  "  Harz  Reise  im 
Winter."  * 

July  12th,  —  I  met  Cargill  by  appointment,  but  on  calling 
at  Mr.  Trving's  we  received  a  card  addressed  to  callers,  stating 
that  he  had  shut  himself  up  till  three,  and  wished  not  to  be 
interrupted  except  on  business  of  importance.  How  excellent 
a  thing  were  this  but  a  fashion  ! 

I  called  on  Murray,  and  signed  a  letter  (which  is  to  be  litho- 
graphed, with  a  fac-simile  of  handwriting)  recommending  God- 
win's case.    It  is  written  by  Mackintosh,  f 

August  6th. — Went  to  the  Haymarket.  I  have  not  lately 
been  so  much  amused.  In  "  Sweethearts  and  Wives,"  by 
Kenny,  Liston  plays  a  sentimental  lover  and  novel-reader.  A 
burlesque  song  is  the  perfection  of  farce  :  — 

"  And  when  I  cry  and  plead  for  marcy, 
^  It  does  no  good,  but  wice  warsy." 

[This  year  Mr.  Robinson  made  a  tour  in  Germany,  Switzer- 
land, and  the  Tyrol ;  but  as  he  went  over  the  same  ground  at 
other  times,  no  selections  will  be  given  from  the  journal  he 
wrote  on  this  occasion.] 

October  26th,  —  I  met  with  Talfourd,  and  heard  from  him 
much  of  the  literary  gossip  of  the  last  quarter.  Sutton 
Sharpe,t  whom  I  called  on,  gave  me  a  second  edition,  and  lent 
me  the  last  London  Magazine,^  containing  Lamb's  delightful 
letter  to  Southey.  |1  His  remarks  on  religion  are  full  of  deep 
feeling,  and  hiB  eulogy  on  Hazlitt  and  Leigh  Hunt  most  gene- 
rous.   Lamb  must  be  aware  that  he  would  expose  himself  to 

*  See  Vol.  11.  p.  49. 

t  The  object  of  this  letter  was  to  obtain  a  sum  of  money  to  help  Godwin 
out  of  his  difficulties. 

\  Nephew  of  Samuel  Rogers.  Afterwards  Q.  C,  and  eminent  at  the  equity 
bar. 

§  See  the  Works  of  Charles  Lamb,  Vol.  I.  p.  322. 

II  Southey  had  said  in  a  review  of  "  Elia's  Essays  " :  "  It  is  a  book  which 
wants  only  a  sounder  religious  feeling,  to  be  as  delightful  as  it  is  original."  He 
did  not  intend  to  let  the  word  smnder  stand,  but  the  passage  was  printed 
without  his  seeing  a  proof  of  it. 


1823.] 


LAW  OF  BLASPHEMY. 


493 


obloquy  by  such  declarations.  It  seems  that  he  and  Hazlitt 
are  no  longer  on  friendly  terms.  Nothing  that  Lamb  has 
ever  written  has  impressed  me  more  strongly  with  the 
sweetness  of  his  disposition  and  the  strength  of  his  affec- 
tions. 

November  10th.  —  An  interesting  day.  I  breakfasted  with 
Flaxman,  by  invitation,  to  meet  Schlegel.  Had  I  as  much 
admiration  for  Schlegel's  personal  character  as  I  have  for  his 
literary  powers,  I  should  have  been  gratified  by  his  telling 
Flaxman  that  it  was  he  who  first  named  him  to  Madame  de 
Stael,  and  who  gave  Madame  de  Stael  her  first  ideas  of  Ger- 
man literature.  Schlegel  is  now  devoting  himself  to  Indian 
learning,  and  hardly  attends  to  anything  else.  Our  conversa- 
tion during  a  short  breakfast  was  chiefly  on  Oriental  subjects. 
He  brought  with  him  his  niece,  an  artist,  who  has  been  study- 
ing under  Girard  at  Paris.  Flaxman  had  made  an  appointment 
with  Bundle  and  Bridge.  And  we  rode  there,  principally  to 
see  Flaxman's  "  Shield  of  Achilles,"  one  of  his  greatest  designs. 
Mr.  Bridge  said  it  is  a  disgrace  to  the  English  nobility 
that  only  four  copies  have  been  ordered,  —  by  the  King,  the 
Duke  of  York,  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  Lord  Lons- 
dale.* Schlegel  seemed  to  admire  the  work.  It  was  Lord 
Mayor's  Day,  and  we  stayed  to  see  the  procession. 

November  18th.  —  I  spent  the  forenoon  at  home.  Finished 
Mrs.  Wordsworth's  Journal.  I  do  not  know  when  I  have  felt 
more  humble  than  in  reading  it ;  it  is  so  superior  to  my  own. 
She  saw  so  much  more  than  I  did,  though  we  were  side  by 
side  during  a  great  part  of  the  time.  Her  recollection  and 
her  observation  were  alike  employed  with  so  much  more 
efiect  than  mine.  This  book  revived  impressions  nearly  dor- 
mant. 

November  2Jfth.  —  I  walked  out  early.  Went  to  the  King's 
Bench,  where  one  of  Carlile's  men  was  brought  up  for  judgment 
for  publishing  blasphemy.  A  half-crazy  Catholic,  French,  spoke 
in  mitigation.  My  Lords,"  he  said,  "  your  Lordships  cannot 
punish  this  man,  now  that  blasphemy  is  justified  by  Act  of  Par- 
liament." This  roused  Lord  Ellenborough.  That  cannot  be, 
Mr.  French."  —  "  Why,  my  Lord,  the  late  Bill  repealing  the 
penalties  on  denying  the  Trinity  justifies  blasphemy  !"t  This 
was  a  very  sore  subject  to  Lord  Ellenhv^rough,  on  account  of 

*  There  is  a  fine  cast  of  it  in  the  Flaxman  Gallery,  University  College- 
London,  presented  by  C.  R.  Cockerell,  R.  A, 
t  See  aw<e,  p.  413. 


494    REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 

the  imputed  heterodoxy  of  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  his  father. 
French  could  only  allege  that  this  might  have  misled  the  de- 
fendant. He  was  put  down  after  uttering  many  absurdities. 
On  this  the  defendant  said  :  "I  should  like  to  know,  my  Lords, 
if  I  may  not  say  Christ  was  not  God  without  being  punished 
for  it  ?  "  This  brought  up  Best,  and  he  said  :  In  answer  to 
the  question  so  indecently  put,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that,  notwithstanding  the  Act  referred  to,  it  is  a  crime  punish- 
able by  law  to  say  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  that  he  was  "  — 
and  then  there  was  a  pause  — other  than  he  declared  himself 
to  be."  He  was  about  to  utter  an  absurdity,  and  luckily  be- 
thought himself. 

November  26th.  - —  Took  tea  and  supped  at  Godwin's.  The 
Lambs  there,  and  some  young  men.  We  played  whist,  &c. 
Mrs.  Shelley  there.  She  is  unaltered,  yet  I  did  not  know 
her  at  first.  She  looks  elegant  and  sickly  and  young.  One 
would  not  suppose  she  was  the  author  of  ^'  Frankenstein." 

November  27th,  —  I  called  early  on  Southey  at  his  brother's ; 
he  received  me  cordially ;  we  chatted  during  a  short  walk. 
He  wishes  me  to  write  an  article  on  Germany  for  the  Quarterly, 
which  I  am  half  inclined  to  do.  Southey  talks  liberally  and 
temperately  on  Spanish  affairs.  He  believes  the  King  of  Por- 
tugal will  give  a  constitution  to  the  people,  but  he  has  no 
hopes  from  the  King  of  Spain.  He  has  been  furnished  with 
Sir  Hew  Dalrymple's  papers,  from  which  he  has  collected  two 
facts  which  he  does  not  think  it  right  at  present  to  make 
public  :  one,  that  the  present  King  of  France  *  offered  to  fight 
in  the  Spanish  army  against  Buonaparte  ;  the  other,  that  of 
thirty-five  despatches  which  Sir  Hew  sent  to  Lord  Castlereagh, 
only  three  were  answered.  The  Spanish  Ministry  have  been 
very  abstinent  in  not  revealing  this  fact  against  Louis  lately  ; 
it  would  give  new  bitterness  to  the  national  feeling  against 
him.    No  one  now  cares  about  Castlereagh's  reputation. 

December  8d.  —  I  dined  in  Castle  Street,  and  then  took  tea 
at  Flaxman's.  A  serious  conversation  on  Jung's  ^'  Theorie  der 
Geisterkunde  "  f  ("  Theory  of  the  Sciettce  of  Spirits  ").  Flax^ 
man  is  prepared  to  go  a  very  great  way  with  Jung,  for  though 
he  does  not  believe  in  animal  magnetism,  and  has  a  strong  and 
very  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  art,  and  though  he  does  not 
believe  in  witchcraft,  yet  he  does  believe  in  ghosts,  and  he  re- 
lated the  following  anecdotes  as  confirming  his  belief :  Mr. 
E          ordered  of  Flaxman  a  monument  for  his  wife,  and 


*  Louis  XVIII. 


t  This  work  has  been  translated  into  English. 


GHOST  STORIES. 


495 


directed  that  a  dove  should  be  introduced.  Flaxman  supposed 
it  was  an  armorial  crest,  but  on  making  an  inquiry  was  informed 
that  it  was  not,  and  was  told  this  anecdote  as  explanatory  of 
the  required  ornament.  When  Mrs.  E  was  on  her  death- 
bed, her  husband,  being  in  the  room  with  her,  perceived  that 
she  was  apparently  conversing  with  some  one.    On  asking  her 

what  she  was  saying,  Mrs.  E  replied,  "  Do  not  you  see 

Miss  at  the  window  ]  "  —    Miss  is  not  here,"  said 

her  husband.    ^'  But  she  is,"  said  Mrs.  E  .     She  is  at  the 

window,  standing  with  a  dove  in  her  hand,  and  she  says  she 

will  come  again  to  me  on  Wednesday."    Now  this  Miss  , 

who  was  a  particular  friend  of  Mrs.  E— — ,  resided  at  a  dis- 
tance, and  had  then  been  dead  three  months.    Whether  her 

death  was  then  known  to  Mrs.  E  ,  I  cannot  say.    On  the 

Wednesday  Mrs.  E  died.    Flaxman  also  related  that  he 

had  a  cousin,  a  Dr.  Flaxman,  a  Dissenting  minister,  who  died 
man}^  years  ago.  Flaxman,  when  a  young  man,  was  a  believer 
in  ghosts,  the  Doctor  an  unbeliever.  A  warm  dispute  on  the 
subject  having  taken  place,  Mr.  Flaxman  said  to  the  Doctor : 

I  know  you  are  a  very  candid,  as  well  as  honest  man,  and  I 
now  put  it  to  you  whether,  though  you  are  thus  incredulous, 
you  have  never  experienced  anything  which  tends  to  prove 
that  appearances  of  departed  spirits  are  permitted  by  Divine 
Providence  1 "  Being  thus  pressed,  the  Doctor  confessed  that 
the  following  circumstance  had  taken  place  :  There  came  to 
him  once  a  very  ignorant  and  low  fellow,  who  lived  in  his 
neighborhood,  to  ask  him  what  he  thought  of  an  occurrence 
that  had  taken  place  the  preceding  night.  As  he  lay  in  bed, 
on  a  sudden  a  very  heavy  and  alarming  noise  had  taken  place 
in  a  room  above  him  where  no  one  was,  and  which  he  could 
not  account  for.  He  thought  it  must  come  from  a  cousin  of 
his  at  sea,  who  had  promised  to  come  to  him  whenever  he  died. 
The  Doctor  scolded  at  the  man  and  sent  him  off.  Some  weeks 
afterwards  the  man  came  again,  to  tell  him  that  his  cousin,  he 
had  learned,  was  drowned  that  very  night. 

Rem,*  —  Let  me  add  here,  what  I  may  have  said  before,  that 
C'harles  Becher  told  me  a  story  the  very  counterpart  of  this,  — 
that  one  night  he  was  awakened  b}^  a  sound  of  his  brother's 
voice  crying  out  that  he  was  drowning,  and  it  afterwards  ap- 
peared that  his  brother  was  drowned  that  very  night.  It  should 
be  said  that  there  was  a  furious  tempest  at  the  time,  and  Becher 
was  on  the  English  coast,  and  knew  that  his  brother  was  at  sea 
on  the  coast  of  Holland. 

*  Written  in  1851. 


496     REMINISCENCES  OF  HENRY  CRABB  ROBINSON.  [Chap.  27. 

I  should  add  to  what  I  have  said  of  Flaxman,  that  he  was 
satisfied  Jung  had  borrowed  his  theory  from  a  much  greater 
man,  Swedenborg. 

December  22d.  —  Dined  with  Southern  in  Castle  Street,  and 
then  went  to  Flaxman's.  I  read  to  them  parts  of  Jung's  work, 
but  Flaxman  thought  his  system  very  inferior  to  Swedenborg's. 
Flaxman  declared  his  conviction  that  Swedenborg  has  given  the 
true  interpretation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  he  be- 
lieves in  him  as  an  inspired  teacher.  He  says,  that  till  he  read 
his  explanations  of  the  Scriptures,  they  were  to  him  a  painful 
mystery.  He  has  lent  me  a  summary  of  the  Swedenborgian 
doctrines. 

December  31st,  —  A  year  to  me  of  great  enjoyment,  but  not 
of  prosperity.  My  fees  amounted  to  445  guineas.  As  to  my- 
self, I  have  become  more  and  more  desirous  to  be  religious,  but 
seem  to  be  further  off  than  ever.  Whenever  I  draw  near,  the 
negative  side  of  the  magnet  works,  and  I  am  pushed  back  by 
an  invisible  power. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


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